PM Modi’s mother Hiraben passes away

In fond tributes to his mother Hiraben following her death, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday he always felt in her the presence of a trinity combining an ascetic’s journey, a selfless doer and a life committed to values.

Modi’s mother Hiraben passed away at a hospital in Ahmedabad on Friday. She was 99.

A bulletin from the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre, where she was admitted on Wednesday after her health deteriorated, announced the news of her demise.

“Hiraben Modi passed away on 30/12/2022 at 3.30 am during the treatment at U N Mehta Heart Hospital,” the medical bulletin said.

“A glorious century rests at God’s feet,” Modi said in a tweet.

Prime Minister Modi recalled that when he met her on her 100th birthday, she had told him: “work with intelligence and live life with purity”.

Modi reached Ahmedabad from Delhi on Wednesday afternoon and visited the hospital to meet his ailing mother. He remained at the hospital for more than an hour and also spoke to doctors there.

Hiraben, also called Hiraba, lived at Raysan village near Gandhinagar city with Modi’s younger brother Pankaj Modi. The prime minister regularly visited Raysan and spent time with his mother during his visits to Gujarat.