Raipur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on a bustling day-long visit to Chhattisgarh marking the state’s 25th foundation day, took a poignant moment amid grand inaugurations to enquire about the health of two of the region’s cultural luminaries; Padma Vibhushan folk artist Teejan Bai and Jnanpith Award-winning litterateur Vinod Kumar Shukla.
His gesture, conveyed through official channels, underscores a deep appreciation for the state’s artistic heritage, even as he unveiled development projects worth over Rs 14,260 crore.
The Prime Minister’s outreach came against a backdrop of recent health scares for both icons. Teejan Bai, 73, a world-famous “Pandwani Singer” revered as the “Panditani of Raut Nacha,” was admitted to AIIMS Raipur on Monday following directives from Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai.
Last year, reports appeared in the media that she was bedridden after losing two sons and grappling with a family financial crunch. Her kin alleged delays in pension disbursements, forcing them to forgo essential treatments.
Responding swiftly, the Durg district administration and local leaders provided immediate financial aid while resolving banking glitches to restore her pension. Further assistance had also been give to her by the government, offering Rs 5 lakh in assistance and ordering specialised home-care equipment—a motorised remote-controlled bed, bed-table, and wheelchair—to ease her daily struggles.
Vinod Kumar Shukla, 90, the poet-novelist behind masterpieces like “Naagraj”, has been battling severe respiratory distress in the ICU of MMI Narayana Multispeciality Hospital since Monday evening.
Days earlier, a Rs 30 lakh royalty cheque had thrust him into the headlines, a rare windfall for the reclusive genius. His woes began with a courtyard fall at his Rajnandgaon home, fracturing his nasal bone and necessitating surgery. Post-discharge, breathing complications escalated, landing him in critical care.
PM Modi’s inquiry, relayed via the Chief Minister’s Office, wished both swift recoveries and expressed gratitude for their enduring contributions to India’s literary and performative world.
The visit’s centrepiece included PM Modi’s interaction with 2,500 children cured of congenital heart defects under the ‘Dil Ki Baat’ programme at Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital, Nava Raipur.
He will also inaugurate the Brahma Kumaris’ “Shanti Shikhar” spiritual centre, unveil a Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee statue, and lay foundation stones for highways like NH-130D, power substations, and the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Museum.
As Chhattisgarh celebrates its silver jubilee, PM Modi’s empathetic touch for its ailing artists humanised the developmental fanfare, reminding all that progress must nurture cultural roots.
(IANS)
