Indian diaspora in Scotland present PM Modi with bust; he lends his glasses to complete it

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 1

British doctor and artist Nadey Hakim on Monday made Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bust on the sidelines of COP 26 conference at Glasgow and managed to get the Indian PM to unveil it. 

Not just that, the PM also lent his spectacles to Hakim to complete the sculpture. The original did not have Modi’s trademark glasses on.

Speaking after the unveiling, Hakim described PM Modi as a “brother”, who “ensured enough time necessary to give respect to another person."

“I have done the sculpture of PM Modi because as you can see he is quite a popular gentleman. Everyone likes him. I really liked his features. I am thrilled by his reaction. He is obviously so easy-going. And I could not believe my improvisation at the last minute of not having had the glasses. I took off PM Modi’s own glasses and put them on,” Hakim said at Glasgow today in videos the PMO shared.

He said he was impressed by the personal attention Modi gave “to every single person he met.”

“In the end, we are all human beings. It does not matter if you are a PM or Pope. We are all humans and we give respect to each other regardless of our level,” said Hakim.

In another interaction, the first Sikh woman to become a member of the Scottish Parliament Pam Gosal lauds PM Modi for personal attendance at the Glasgow climate conference.

“I am the first Indian and the first Sikh woman member of the Scottish Parliament. It is fantastic to see the prime minister here at Glasgow at COP 26 among all the world leaders. It is very important they all come together and make sure we have some kind of resolution to take this world forward much more environmentally,” Gosal says, describing herself.

Backing PM Modi’s one world one initiative call, Gosal referred to the Sikh tenet of “Ek Omkar” saying, "Coming from a Sikh background, we have Ek Omkar, that there is only one God. There is only one world we have here, one earth and I think we all have an important responsibility to make sure we have an important part to play here”.

Another Scotland-based NRI Manjulika, a yoga practitioner thanked PM Modi for making yoga popular across the world and for “putting India on the top of the list.”

NRI Vipin said the larger Indian diaspora “loved PM Modi and saw in him a leader who would take us to a level of aspiration we desire."