Raksha Bandhan: PM Narendra Modi's Pakistani sister makes a special rakhi this year

Qamar Sheikh, a Pakistani woman who has been tying a 'rakhi' to Narendra Modi for over two decades, will once again tie a rakhi to the Prime Minister in New Delhi on Monday to celebrate Raksha Bandhan on Monday, August 19. This will be the 30th time she will perform this ritual.

For every Raksha Bandhan, she makes a rakhi with her own hands and never buys them from the market. “I make many rakhis with my own hands every year before Raksha Bandhan and in the end, I tie the Rakhi that I like the most on his wrist,” she told India Today.

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To mark the 30th year, she has made something special. "The rakhi I have prepared this year, I have made it on velvet. I have used pearls, metal embroideries, and tikki in the rakhi," she added.

The practice was stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic years 2020, 2021, and 2022 as Sheikh could not travel to fulfil her wish. She resumed her journey to Delhi last year and hopes to tie a rakhi to the prime minister this year too.

Who is Qamar Sheikh?

Born into a Muslim family in Pakistan's Karachi, she was married to Moshin Sheikh in 1981. Since then, she migrated and settled in India.

Sheikh claims to have met Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the first time in 1990, through the late Dr. Swaroop Singh, the then Governor of Gujarat.

Recalling the moment, she claimed to have met Narendra Modi at the airport, where Singh introduced her to the prime minister. Singh said that he considered Kamar Sheikh his daughter, to which Modi replied that he would consider her as his sister.

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"Since then, I have been tying Rakhi to him at the festival of Raksha Bandhan," said Sheikh.

She claimed that her wish to see Narendra Modi as the chief minister of Gujarat turned into a reality. "When my wish turned into reality, then during a later meeting on Raksha Bandhan, he asked me what wish I had made for my brother now?" Sheikh said that at that time she used to pray that Narendra Modi should become Prime Minister of the country.