Kanpur Dehat (UP)| President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday met his childhood friend K.K. Aggarwal’s house. The President is in Kanpur on a four-day visit, during which he is meeting his family members and friends. Kovind, who boarded the train to reach Kanpur, went to his native village Paraunkh in the Kanpur countryside.
On Sunday, the President reached his village by helicopter and bowed down to touch the soil of his village as a mark of respect.
Aggarwal, a textile trader, is not keeping well for the past few weeks, so the President decided to visit his old friend’s house. He also took a cake with him to celebrate the 51st wedding anniversary of Agarwal and his wife Veena.
The President stayed at Agarwal’s residence for over an hour.
Later talking to the media, Agarwal said that he was excited that the President met him. He said that it reminded him of Lord Krishna who had visited his poor friend Sudama’s house. The President’s gesture of carrying a cake to celebrate their wedding anniversary made the occasion special.
The family of Agarwal and President Kovind have been friends for a very long time. The Kanpur businessman had visited Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi when Kovind was sworn in as the country’s highest office.
This is Kovind’s first visit to his native village after becoming the President in 2017.
A Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said the President decided to take a train journey to his native village “as per the tradition of his predecessors”.
Before Kovind, former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had traveled in a special train from Delhi to Dehradun to participate in the parade of cadets of the Indian Military Academy (IMA).
