Hours After Mother's Last Rites, PM Modi Returns To Work

Hours after his mother's death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually flagged off the Vande Bharat express connecting Howrah and New Jalpaiguri, and launched several other development projects worth Rs 7,800 crore in West Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while condoling Heeraben Modi's death, advised the PM to take rest.

The PM's decision to carry on with his official engagements on the day he lost his mother also drew praise from fellow ministers and other BJP leaders, who hailed him as a "karmayogi".

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Kerala said that the PM told them (ministers) to not cancel their scheduled programmes and return to Delhi only after completing their work. Home Minister Amit Shah also went ahead with his programme in Karnataka.

"Today I was supposed to come among you, but I could not come for some personal reasons, for which I apologise to you and West Bengal," the PM said at the start of his speech during the event.

The news of PM's mother's death was out at 6 in the morning, and the last rites, for which the PM travelled to Gandhinagar in Gujarat, were done by 9:30 am. 

PM Modi returned to work at 11 am, appearing for the event via video conferencing. 

Heeraben Modi died in the early hours of Friday. She was 99.

"A glorious century rests at the feet of God... In Maa, I have always felt that trinity, which contains the journey of an ascetic, the symbol of a selfless Karmayogi and a life committed to values," PM Modi posted on Twitter, informing about his mother's death.

The PM was scheduled to visit West Bengal to launch a series of projects. The Prime Minister's Office tweeted that he will join today's scheduled programmes in Bengal via video conferencing.