Sharing PM Modi’s letter, Ram Nath Kovind tweeted that it has deeply touched him. “I take his kind and heartfelt words as a reflection of love and respect fellow citizens have showered on me. I am sincerely grateful to you all,” he said.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has heaped praise on Ram Nath Kovind, saying he set the highest standards of principles, probity, performance, sensitivity and service during his tenure as India’s President. In a letter to Kovind on Sunday, a day before he demitted office, Modi also paid tribute to his personal journey from a small village in Uttar Pradesh to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, lauding it as “a parable for our country’s evolution and development, and an inspiration for our society”. “Through your life and career, you have persevered with determination and dignity, with a deep commitment to the morality and integrity that is at the core of the Indian ethos, and with the highest regard and responsibility towards the principles of our Constitution,” he said.
During his presidency in his numerous actions, interventions and speeches, he has represented and carried the best of India to all corners of the country and the world, Modi said. The prime minister told Kovind that he had always been generous with his time and counsel to him over the past five years. “I will continue to turn to you for advice. It has been a real privilege to work with you, Rashtrapati Ji, as your Prime Minister,” he said.
Sharing the letter, Kovind tweeted that it has deeply touched him. “I take his kind and heartfelt words as a reflection of love and respect fellow citizens have showered on me. I am sincerely grateful to you all,” he said.
Modi wrote that as President, Kovind upheld and reinforced the ideals of India’s Constitution and the vitality of its democracy with sound judgement, great dignity and extraordinary statesmanship and always with the best interests of the Republic as his compass. As the country’s first citizen, he was always unwavering in his compassion and concern for the welfare of the weakest citizen, and remained firmly and proudly rooted in its soil and connected with the people, he added.
Kovind was always in people’s company, sensitive to their problems, perceptive about their expectations, and acutely aware of the needed change, he said in the letter. “You were a steadfast and passionate champion of social transformation and inclusion, speaking for the poor, the historically excluded and oppressed, and the marginalised, with special attention to the status and role of women,” the prime minister said.
