When Vice-President Dhankhar Touched Feet Of 94-Year-Old Goa Farmer

Dhankhar was the chief guest at a function organised for the release of the 200th book of Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai.

As the Vice-President arrived at the Raj Bhavan's new Durbar Hall and was walking through the crowd to reach the dais when he noticed nonagenarian Vishwanath Gadhadhar Kelkar, who was among those invited for the function.

Clad in traditional dhoti, Kelkar, a farmer and former deputy sarpanch of a village, smilingly greeted Dhankhar, who stopped and started chatting with him.

After spending a couple of minutes with the agriculturist, the Vice-President (72) , who comes from a farming background, touched his feet and took blessings before leaving for the stage. The Governor and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant were accompanying Dhankhar at the time of the incident.

“I was overwhelmed by his gesture. I felt like in heaven. I came here on the Governor's invitation and this was my first visit to the Raj Bhavan,” said an emotional Kelkar.

The farmer had served as the first deputy sarpanch of Surla village panchayat in Bicholim taluka (North Goa) after the state's liberation from the Portuguese rule in 1961.

Accompanied by his daughter and son-in-law Bhushan Bhave, a well-known writer in Goa, Kelkar? said he has an agriculturist throughout his life.

Dhankhar later released the 200th book authored by Governor Pillai titled “Vaman Vriksha Kala”.

-With PTI Input