Kolkata/Siliguri: For decades, early in the morning, Makhanlal Sarkar would leave his modest home in Siliguri’s Surya Sen Park Colony wearing ‘Khadi’ shorts, RSS belt and shoes for organizational work. At the age of 97, the lifelong volunteer and grassroots political activist has received what many in his area call the recognition of a lifetime – an honor Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Sarkar, once an aide of Bharatiya Jan Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee, said this after touching Modi’s feet and hugging him at the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari at Brigade on Saturday morning.For the veteran, his long-awaited wish in life was fulfilled. His life finally found a meaning. He has been a member of the Sangh Parivar since the age of 16 BJP Formed in 1980, they served as the organizational coordinator for North Bengal, including Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and West Dinajpur. He is credited with bringing about 10,000 members into the party within a year during its initial expansion.BJP state president Samik Bhattacharya said, “The government was with Mukherjee on his last journey.” According to him, the veteran was arrested in Kashmir for singing patriotic songs. “He never bowed down to the atrocities of the Congress government,” Bhattacharya said. Recalling the 1990 Ram Rath Yatra, when Lal Krishna Advani was arrested during his march from Somnath to Ayodhya, the government said attempts were made to arrest him in Bihar as well.He said, “I was at the Bengal-Bihar border in Purnia to welcome Advaniji. But the police came and told me that he had been arrested and even when I told them that I had taken permission from the then CM Jyoti Basu, who had given me permission to host the Rath Yatra in the state, they threatened to arrest me, they released me.” Despite financial hardship, the government never abandoned its responsibilities or ideological commitment to its children. They raised two sons, Manik and Sunny Sarkar, and four daughters – Unju Choudhary, Manju Sarkar, Sanjeeta Sarkar and Nandita Sarkar, with barely any financial security. The family survived mainly on the produce of the land. In 1984, when the BJP’s presence in the district was weak, he became the district secretary with only a handful of supporters.