Bengaluru: It was a dream come true for rickshaw puller from Varanasi Mangal Kevat as he met the man he reveres and respects, PM Narendra Modi himself. 

The PM was in Varanasi a few days ago to inaugurate a slew of projects when he stole some time to meet the rickshaw puller. 

It might be recalled that the rickshaw puller had sent an invitation to the PM on his daughter’s wedding. 

The meeting saw the PM praise the rickshaw puller for his phenomenal efforts to clean up river Ganga banks in his village. The PM also took this as an opportunity to enquire about his health and that of his family. 

Interestingly, the meeting saw the light of day as Kevat’s wife Renu Devi had expressed her desire to meet the man of the moment. 

The rickshaw puller and his family reside in Domri village, which the PM has adopted.

He had personally invited the PM for his daughter’s wedding. 

Overjoyed at the PM’s acceptance of the invitation and his blessings to his daughter, Kevat had said, "Some of my friends asked me to send an invitation to Modiji so I sent one to Delhi and one to his Varanasi office. I never expected a response but now that we have got his letter, we are overjoyed. I have shown the letter to all guests at my daughter's wedding.”

Incidentally, Kevat also happens to be a great devotee of the river Ganga. He spends quite some earnings of his in the upkeep of the river and is a regular worshipper of it.

When the PM visited his constituency, he enrolled Kevat as a party member as well.

Varanasi has elected and sent PM Modi to the Lok Sabha not once but twice in the year 2014 and 2019.

The PM has also initiated the Namami Gange project, taken up with the objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of the river.