KOLKATA: A photograph of a man in a skull cap whispering something into Narendra Modi’s ears recently went viral, triggering a flurry of memes on social media over the past week and even prompting AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi to mock the PM at a public meeting.
Who was this mystery man and what had he said? TOI tracked down 38-year-old BJP worker Zulfiqar Ali, a Garden Reach resident, busy with “booth duties” at Metiabruz on Saturday.
“I had only asked for Modiji’s permission for a selfie with him. He had gladly agreed. He rested his arm around my shoulder and asked a photographer accompanying him to click. I will cherish those 40 seconds spent with him forever,” said Ali, visibly basking in the glory the viral photograph had offered him.
Speaking to TOI outside Metiabruz police station, Ali said he had been associated with the BJP since 2014 and was currently president of the party’s minority morcha in south Kolkata. On Saturday, the fourth phase of polling in Bengal, he was busy monitoring volunteers outside multiple booths in Behala, Tollygunge and Kasba.
Ali said the photograph was clicked on April 2 at Sonarpur helipad after Modi finished his public meeting. “I was among six persons selected to see him off at the helipad. I was the last among the six to bid adieu and when Modiji came near me, I whispered into his ears that I wished to click a picture with him. He did ask a photographer, but a selfie was never taken. Over the next few hours, I received several calls and realised my photo with the PM had gone viral.”
The BJP worker said when curious friends and family members ask him what he had whispered into the PM’s ears, he feels he had missed an opportunity. “I always wanted to serve the nation by joining the Army. I wish I had told Modiji that,” said the Class X dropout.
Once an active Congress worker, Ali claims he was the target of the 2013 attack outside Harimohan Ghosh College in Kidderpore, allegedly by TMC goons, when he was saved by Kolkata Police officer Tapas Chowdhury, who took the bullet. “I left Congress in disgust and joined BJP the next year,” he said.