Mansooruddin Faridi/New Delhi

“The Modi government has brought me out of obscurity and made me famous.”

“This is a great favour Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done for me.”

These remarks were made by Shah Rasheed Ahmed Quadari, a renowned Bidar Artisan from Karnataka who has been conferred the Padma Shri Award for his contribution to reviving the ancient inlay art while speaking with Awaz-The Voice.

Soon after receiving the coveted award, Shah Rasheed Quadari told Prime Minister Modi at the Rashtrapati Bhavan that he had believed that Narendra Modi will not give Padma Shri award to Muslims, but it didn't happen. “I was proved wrong.”

This video clip of Shah Rasheed Quadari speaking to Narendra Modi as the former came to congratulate all the awardees, has gone viral on social media.

Later speaking with Awaz-The Voice, he said: “What I said about Modiji was spontaneous, I opened my heart; what was in my heart and mind the words come out. I had no hesitation in opening my heart. There was no reason for me to withhold my emotions and thoughts as the government has given me my due."

He said although he has always voted for the Congress Party, after the award, he changed his mind. “I have decided to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Karnataka assembly elections because the government has given me my due.”

Shah rasheed Ahmed Quadari with his art pieces

Hailing from the Bidar City in Karnataka, Shah Rasheed Quadari says “the honour and recognition that I waiting to get for a long time has come to me because of Narendra Modi, so my support for Modi is natural and not political.”

Shah Rasheed Quadari clarified that he is not a politically minded person. “I have nothing to do with politics, Nobody should look for any kind of politics in my statement because I have only spoken from my heart.”

He says he has never been connected with any political party nor does he intend to get into one in near future. “I am only connected with my art, it is also a fact that so far I have not been honoured by any government. No help whatsoever and even after receiving the Padma Shri, I feel that I have to fight my own battle.”

“Let me tell you that during the previous government's tenure, I applied for the Padma Shri award every year and spent around Rs 60,000 as the fee, but never got a positive result,” he says.

“After the BJP came to power, I lost all hope and even stopped applying for the Padma Shri award because the general perception was that the BJP hates Muslims or is anti-Muslim. Yes - but on 25th January this year, the ministry informed me over the telephone that you have been selected for the Padma Shri, he said.

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Shah Rasheed Quadari while talking to Awaz-The Voice said that he was grateful to Narendra Modi for this favour. “My art, hard work, and struggle that no one has acknowledged so far has been done by the Modi government - I am grateful for this. I will vote for BJP to repay, this is my personal decision, no politics in it.”