Gujarat: Man joins poll duty hours after mother's last rites

Dealing with the loss of a loved one is one of the most difficult things for most people, but a similar tragedy did not come in the way of election duty for a teacher from Sabarkantha, who reported for work an hour after performing his mother's final rites.

Popatbhai Patel, 51, who works as a teacher in a government primary school in Matarvada village of Sabarkantha's Poshina taluka, lost his mother Shantaben, 78, on March 30.

Incidentally, in view of the Lok Sabha elections, Patel was posted in the media centre of Sabarkantha Information Bureau for monitoring of paid news and other media content just four days earlier.

Patel went to his village Ambawada in Prantij taluka of Sabarkantha, where his mother's last rites were performed the same day. However, what happened next came as a shock for many, as Patel reported for work almost immediately, just an hour or so after his mother was cremated.

Patel said that he decided to return to the office almost immediately after the cremation to carry out his duty.

"A mother's loss is a big loss, and I realise that my family members needed me after her passing away. My brothers wanted that we remain together for some time so as to share and lessen our collective grief and loss. But, I thought that I had fulfilled my responsibility of performing mother's final rites, and it was time to carry out the duty towards my work. Hence, I immediately reported for the poll-related work," Patel was quoted as saying in a release issued by the state information department.

A senior official of the state information department said that Patel's dedication to work was exemplary.

"People look at election work as an additional burden and find excuses to escape it. We should salute Popatbhai's devotion towards work that even his mother's loss could not keep him away from it," the official said.