Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday spoke to fitness enthusiasts to celebrate the first anniversary of the Fit India Movement. During the online event Fit India Dialogue, PM Modi spoke to Union Minister Kiren Rijiju, Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli, Paralympics gold medalist javelin thrower, Devendra Jhajharia, woman footballer from Jammu and Kashmir, Afshan Ashiq, actor and fitness promoter Milind Soman, among others.
Speaking to the ‘Four More Shots Please’ actor, PM Modi jokingly referred to him as ‘Made in India Milind’ and asked him if he was really 55.
He asked, “Whatever you say your age is – are you really that old or is it something else?”
Replying to him, the model said, “A lot of people ask me the same question about my age. They also ask me how am I able to run such long distance in this age. I tell them – my mother at 81 – is capable of doing all this. She is a huge source of inspiration for me. If you go the villages, women travel kilometres to fill water and for other activities. The problem in cities is that we sit a lot at place for work and other things. This makes them lazy.”
“We have forgotten what is normal in exercise. We are capable of taking regular and strenuous exercise,” Soman told the Prime Minister, who said that he was a big fan of the actor’s mother’s fitness at the advanced age.
After Milind spoke about his mother Usha Soman, Narednra Modi spoke about her push-ups video, which went viral and said that he had watched it five times in awe.
“Someone sent me a video of your mother and I watched it at least five times. It was her birthday that day and she was doing push ups in that video. I salute her,” the prime minister said.