A considerable number of people participated in prayers and celebrations held to mark the 91st birthday of veteran politicial Narayan Datt Tiwari here on Tuesday.
A programme was organised on the Ram lila ground to commemorate the occasion wherein a large number of people including politicians of various parties, industrialists and other noted personalities from different spheres greeting him apart from members of the general public on the occasion.
Appearing touched by the public sentiment, Tiwari said that the love of the people was the unique and priceless property he had acquired in his life. He further said that he would remain committed to the service of the nation, society and developmental works.
He recalled that the ‘saplings’ of development which he had planted many years ago have now grown into large ‘trees. Stating that he had dedicated his entire life to the facilitation of developmental works, Tiwari stressed that developmental efforts should always be undertaken while keeping above party politics.
An all religion prayer meeting and a Havan was also held at the venue to mark the occasion wishing a long life to the former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh who was accompanied by his wife Ujjwala Tiwari and son Rohit Shekhar in the programme.
Artistes brought specially from Delhi for the occasion presented devotional songs in the programme. Chief Minister Harish Rawat and the Pradesh Congress Committee president Kishore Upadhyay—who is down with dengue—also expressed their good wishes to the veteran politicin by phone. School children awaited with garlands as Tiwari arrived at the programme venue with his wife and son.
Cabinet Ministers Indira Hridayesh, Yashpal Arya, assembly speaker GS Kunjwal, MP Bhagat Singh Koshyari and a number of other public representatives and members of the general public were also among those present on the occasion.