PM Narendra Modi and Major Amit Kumar with a photo taken in 2001
A Gujarat schoolboy who met the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi 21 years ago met him again in Kargil today. The boy is now a soldier in the Indian Army.
Prime Minister Modi, who went to Kargil to celebrate Diwali with soldiers today, met Major Amit Kumar, a graduate of Sainik School, Balachadi, in Gujarat's Jamnagar district.
Both are seen holding a nostalgic framed photo of the day in 2001 when Major Amit, who was a student then, is seen taking an award from the then Chief Minister.
"Today, they met again in Kargil and it was a very emotional meeting," an army officer told news agency Press Trust of India.
Every Diwali since he got elected Prime Minister in 2014, PM Modi had been spending the day with soldiers posted in difficult terrain.
He spent Diwali in 2014 with soldiers in Siachen, the world's highest battlefield.
"The armed forces are the pillar of India's security. There has not been a single war with Pakistan where Kargil has not hoisted the flag of victory. The meaning of Diwali is end of atank (terror) and Kargil made it possible," PM Modi said today.
He also sang Vande Mataram with the soldiers in Kargil.