Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned emotional as his voice choked up while speaking about his mother at the Facebook headquarters. In a town hall along with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and staff, Modi bared his heart while talking about the endless possibilities in India.
Zuckerberg set the tone as he spoke of a phase in his life. After starting Facebook he ran out of ideas and went to his mentor Steve Jobs. Steve asked him to visit India and temples in particular. The CEO said he had heard the PM was a great believer of family values and asked him about his mother while pointing to his own parents in the audience.
Modi congratulated them for giving the world a son like Zuckerberg. And then began speaking of his humble beginnings — selling tea at railway stations – and his parents, starting with his father.
“My father is no more. Mother is there, she is older than 90, but does all her own work herself,” said Modi, adding: “When I was young, my mother worked in neighbours’ homes, washing utensils, fetching water and did “mazdoori”. You can imagine how much kasht (difficulty) she underwent to raise me. And this is not true for Narendra Modi. There are lakhs of such mothers in India.”