An ailing Muslim youth from Mantola, Agra had no hopes of surviving until he met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently. 25-year-old Shadab is suffering from Lymphoma or blood cancer. He was given a new lease of life by the chief minister after he ordered the state government to bear the cost of his treatment.
According to Shadab's mother Fatima (name changed), Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath saw Shadab lying on the hospital bed while inspecting the SN Medical College on May 7.
He inquired about Shadab's condition and found out that his family was unable to afford the advanced treatment required at AIIMS.
Following which, Yogi Adityanath ordered the preparation of a file of Shadab's condition for a referral at AIIMS and the best possible treatment for him in Agra until then.
Within three days of the Chief Minister's instructions, Shadab's file was prepared and he was shifted to AIIMS with the assistance of a local NGO Help Agra.
Fatima said that she was highly grateful to the chief minister for providing her son with the chance to live a healthy and disease-free life.
Commenting on Yogi's act of compassion, social activist Vishal Sharma said that what the chief minister did for Shadab was highly appreciable, but it should not be seen as something done by a Hindu chief minister for a Muslim
youth.
"Yogi Adityanath has been elected as the Chief Minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, which includes its Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and followers of other faiths. At this constitutional portfolio, what the chief minister has done for Shadab should only be seen as an act of compassion by the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for a citizen of the state. To see it in any other light would demean the whole act," Sharma added.
Hotelier and social activist Arun Dang too appreciated the chief minister's move to help Shadab fight the deadly disease and said that saffron clothes do not mean that the chief minister would only work for Hindus and neither does wearing a skull cap mean that the chief minister would only work for Muslims.
"Being on such an important portfolio in itself means that the chief minister can have no differentiation between the citizens in his mind. Chief Minister Yogi is only following what Prime Minister Modi has already stated, that the country is one and every Indian is the same, irrespective of his or her faith," Arun Dang said.
Hindustani Biradari Secretary Ziauddin said that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has done nothing but follow Prime Minister Modi's 'Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas' slogan. He added that Yogi Aditynath's act shows that there is no difference between what he says and what he does.