Elderly Indian couple files plea to adopt PM Modi

GHAZIABAD: A couple in their 70s has filed an application with the relevant authorities in Ghaziabad, seeking to adopt Indian Prime Minister Narendra as their ‘son’.

“I have no political agenda,” says Yogender Pal Singh, nicknamed ‘Yogi’ when asked about his application.

The 79-year-old Modinagar resident, who lives in Patla village with his septuagenarian wife, Atar Kali, filed adoption papers at the office of the deputy registrar of Ghaziabad. This was on February 21. The application was promptly rejected, and Yogi says he is “hurt”.

According to the Times of India, Yogi had decided to take this step in response to a member of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights issuing a notice to the PM for his remarks that he is an adopted son of UP and asking him to furnish legal documents about his adoption in the state.

Modi had called himself an adopted son of UP in a rally in Hardoi on February 17. “I was born in Gujarat and UP has adopted me… Uttar Pradesh is my mai baap. I am not the son who will betray his mai baap. You have adopted me and it is my duty to work for you,” Modi had said at the rally.

Following the speech, a member of the UP’s child rights panel, Nahid Lari Khan, issued the notice to the PM. “He (Modi) was snubbed by the child protection agency of UP, which hurt me immensely. So I came forward with my wife to adopt him. Modi has himself adopted a village in UP. He has asked his MPs from the state to adopt a village each and work for its development. No one questioned him on legal grounds at that point of time,” Yogi told the paper.