Zulfikar Hussain wants the Narendra Modi-led government at the centre to remain in power for 110 years!
He is an artist and is working on a 110-feet-long cutout of the prime minister. He wants it to be placed in front of the BJP office in Lucknow on the occasion of Modi's birthday on September 17.
Hussain, who wants to "personally gift" the cutout to the PM, is hoping that the cutout will be ready by September 17 so that it can be gifted to Modi. Besides the cutout, Hussain will also present a laddoo weighing 1,500 kg and a bell weighing 105 kg to the PM.
The 50-year-old artist is, in fact, based in Dubai. He flew down to his hometown in Uttar Pradesh only for PM Modi's birthday on the request of his longtime friend and BJP councillor Nripendra Pandey.
"This is a dream-come-true for me. I want to personally gift it to the PM. Like the cut-out, I want his government to be in the helm for 110 years," Hussain was quoted by the Times of India as saying. He also wants to gift a similar cutout to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
"I am an artist. I am not influenced by any ideology. Neither do I want people to associate my religion with this," Hussain said.
He has previously made cutouts for Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leaders Kansiram and Mayawati, and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. However, he then moved to Dubai and started working as an oil painting artist.
This will be the artist's first work for the PM, and he is thankful to his friend Pandey for that.
"Our friendship dates back to 1985, when I used to paint posters for movies. In 1998, Nripendra (Pandey) asked me to make a 100-foot cut-out of the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayeeji," Hussain said, elaborating on his friendship spanning over three decades with the BJP councillor.
"In those days, he was famous as Raju artist. I liked his posters on Mayfair, Leela, Novelty theatres. We are friends for 30 years. This time, I insisted him that he has to come to India as nobody else would be able to do it," Pandey told TOI.
