‘Spoke my mind’: Padma awardee Quadri amid row over his praise for PM Modi

New Delhi : Karnataka bidri craftsman Shah Rasheed Ahmed Quadri thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi after receiving Padma Shri on Wednesday and told him that PM Modi proved him wrong as he used to think that the BJP government will not reward a Muslim.
As this conversation triggered a row ahead of the Karnataka assembly election on May 10, Quadri said he was not tutored and he only spoke his mind. The controversy sparked off after Congress MP Pramod Tiwari, in an interview with India Today, said Quadri’s statement seems like ‘tutored’.
“I told him whatever was in my heart. I told him that I tried for the award during Congress time. When the BJP government came, I was upset and gave up trying. But he proved me wrong– this is what I told him. I never approached any individual politician. I used to work on my own and send my profile to the government. I never received any reply then but now they are replying and saying that I have been taught,” Qaudri said to television channels on Thursday.
“I am 68 years old. Am I a child that I can be tutored?” Quadri said adding that the award has no connection with the election as his name was announced as an awardee in January and the process must have started last year, he said.
“I have always voted for the Congress. But now I have a favour to return to the BJP government,” Quadri said to another news channel. He said he did not apply for the award and suddenly received the call on January 25.