PM Modi's one brother is grocer, another drives auto, says Tripura CM Biplab Deb

Biplab Deb, chief minister of Tripura -- one of the smallest states in the country – knows how to stay in the news, intentionally or unintentionally, with his bizarre statements.     

In his latest remarks, Biplab Deb has claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s brothers drives an autorickshaw while another is a grocer to underline his point that “poverty is not a curse”, adding that there is no other Prime Minister like him in the world.

While speaking at a function in Agartala organised on Saturday to mark the second anniversary of the Indian Army’s surgical strikes inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Deb said although Modi has been Prime Minister for four years and served as Gujarat chief minister for 13 years, his family lives the life of middle-class and his mother stays in a small house and one of his brothers still drives an autorickshaw, Hindustan Times reported.

“People, at least for once a day, should pray for his well-being. He doesn’t want anything from them. He never keeps his old mother at his official residence. Even his brother drives an auto and another one is a grocer. Who else is there like him in the country? Even his brothers are so humble,” HT quoted Deb as saying.

In August, Deb said he wanted to distribute ducks among villagers in Tripura because they would boost the rural economy by recycling water and raising oxygen levels in the water.When ducks swim in water, the oxygen level automatically increases in the water body,” Deb said.

“Fish in the water will get more oxygen. They also benefit from the bird droppings. Thus, Pisciculture will benefit and fish will grow faster, that too in a completely organic way,” Deb had said.  

In May, addressing a public gathering, the chief minister said famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore refused the Nobel Prize in protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which took place on 13 April 1919.

"Besides being a world-famous poet, Rabindranath Tagore is also known for rejecting the Nobel Prize in protest against the British government," Deb had said.

In April, Deb advised the educated youth to stop “wasting time” in search of government jobs and start breeding cows.

“There should be a cow in every home. Here, milk is being sold at Rs 50 per litre. A graduate roams around in search of a job for 10 years. Had he bred a cow for 10 years, a bank balance of Rs 10 Lakh would have been a realty by now,” Deb had said.