Lata Didi was like my elder sister: PM Modi after receiving Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar award
Vibha Sharma
New Delhi, April 24
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Sunday honoured with the first Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar award at an event in Mumbai where he remembered the iconic singer for her integral part in nation-building and consciousness of patriotism of which, he said, her father Dinanath Mangeshkar was the source.
Lata Mangeshkar died at 92 in February following multiple organ failure.
“Lata Didi, apart from being the queen of melody, was my elder sister. She taught generations the language of love and compassion. I feel fortunate that she loved me like an elder sister. After many decades, this will be the first Rakhi when Didi will not be here,” he said in his award acceptance speech.
Dedicating the award to all the countrymen, PM Modi said Lata Mangeshkar, whose voice enthralled the audience for over 80 years, from the era of “gramophone, CD, DVD, pen drive, digital music to apps”, made music her worship but patriotism and national service also got inspiration through her songs.
Narrating an incident when a song written by Veer Savarkar, freedom fighter and Hindu ideologue, was sung by her father Dinanath Mangeshkar at a programme of the British Viceroy in Shimla during the freedom struggle, he said: “Along with the song, the consciousness of patriotism that was within Lata Didi, her father was the source of it.”
“The song was written by Veer Savarkar challenging the British rule. This feeling of patriotism was given in inheritance to his family by Deenanathji. Lata ji made music her worship but patriotism and national service also got inspiration through her songs,” the Prime Minister said.
Saying that her journey came to an end at a time when our country is celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the PM said she gave voice to India, even before its Independence. “The 75-year journey of the country was always tied to her ‘sur’. Our entire nation is grateful to the contribution of the Mangeshkar family towards the country,” he said, receiving the award on the 80th death anniversary of Master Deenanath Mangeshkar.
The Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Puraskar will be given every year to an individual who has made “path-breaking, spectacular and exemplary” contribution to the nation, its people and society, according to the Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Smruti Pratishthan Charitable Trust, which has instituted the award. Governor of Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshyari, members of Mangeshkar family and music/film fraternity were among those present on the occasion.
