Who is PM Modi's brother Prahlad Modi? Why is he protesting?

PM Modi's brother Prahlad Modi is the vice president of All India Fair Price Shop Dealers' Federation

Prahlad Modi, Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi's 65-year-old younger brother sat on a dharna at Lucknow's Chaudhury Charan Singh airport demanding that his supporters who were detained by Sultanpur police be released on Wednesday. Police, however, have denied the charge.

His sit-in protest garnered attention from across the country.

Who is Prahlad Modi?

Prahlad Modi, vice president of All India Fair Price Shop Dealers' Federation, has been with the organisation since its inception at the turn of the century in 2001. He used to run a ration shop in Ahmedabad, but retired recently owning to old age.

He is the fourth of six children born to Damodardas Modi and Hira Ben Modi. He has three brothers and two sisters. It is said that PM Modi is closest to Prahlad Modi and his mother Hira Ben Modi in the family.

Prahlad Modi visited his brother at his Chief Minister's office in Gujarat as a delegate to discuss issues that fair price shop owners faced such as the issue of low quality supplies.

Also Read | PM Narendra Modi's brother embarks on dharna to protest arrest of supporters

Why is he protesting?

He sat on a dharna on the airport premises as he was unhappy over police stopping his supporters from reaching there, according to Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport's Additional General

Manager (Operations) Bhupendra Singh. Singh added that Prahlad Modi left after an hour and a half of protesting.

Prahlad Modi told reporters at the airport that he had come to Uttar Pradesh to take part in some social programmes in Sultanpur, Jaunpur and Pratapgarh.

Prahlad Modi, brother of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stages sit-in at Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport in Lucknow, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. Credit: PTI Photo

“After reaching here, I came to know that the workers who were coming to receive me were held by the Lucknow police and made to sit in a police station. Efforts are on to lodge cases against them,” he claimed.

Prahlad Modi claimed some police officers told him that there is “an order to this effect from the Prime Minister's Office”.

“I felt that it would not be right if my children (workers) are in jail and I am free. Either let them go or I am sitting on a strike at the airport. Some police officers reached here and said there is an order to this effect from the Prime Minister's Office and I demand to see the copy of the order," Modi said.

“Goondagardi will neither help the government here nor the Prime Minister's office,” he added. Prahlad Modi said if police did not give him the copy of the order, he would approach the Supreme Court.

(With inputs from PTI)