When @BJP4India President Murli Manohar Joshi and @narendramodi hoisted the Indian national flag at Lalchowk in Srinagar on the Republic Day in January 1992, a 26-year-old youth, Mohammad Ashraf Hajam aka 'Azad', who was associated with a militant outfit, went there out of curiosity to see why the BJP leaders were adamant on their suicidal mission. It was the highest point of the armed insurgency in Kashmir. Azad met the BJP leaders and later visited them at a guesthouse at Cheshma Shahi. Their relationship, according to Azad, grew strong. Later the BJP leaders invited Azad to Delhi and arranged his meeting with Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Some months later, Narendra Modi arrived in Srinagar and established contact with Azad. In a privately hired taxi, Azad drove Modi to his home at Hakermulla near the Hizbul Mujahideen supremo Syed Salahuddin's village of Soibugh in Budgam district. For over 10 days, Azad accompanied Modi to a large number of villages in all six of Kashmir's districts, beginning with Soibugh without any security. According to Azad, Modi was on a BJP-RSS mission but introduced himself as a human rights activist. He asked the people different questions about their political aspirations, social and economic issues, development, history etc. Modi wrote down their answers on his notebooks. Thereafter Azad joined the BJP and he is continuously associated with the same party till date. During the Lok Sabha campaigning in February 2019, Azad and Modi met at Srinagar airport and recalled their old days. Yesterday again, the duo met at Srinagar airport where Azad did receive and see off Prime Minister Modi. Top bureaucrats and Police officers watched Modi asking Azad about his family and the development in Soibugh and introducing him as "my old friend". On his return at the airport, Modi told him: "Azad Sahab aap kī mehnat rang layī hai. Bahut saré loug jalsé mein aayé thé". Now 60, this turbaned man with a flowing white beard is none other than Ashraf 'Azad' with PM Modi at Srinagar airport on Thursday.
From @ahmedalifayyaz