India, May 10 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday touched the feet of 98-year-old BJP veteran Makhanlal Sarkar and sought his blessings at the swearing-in ceremony of the party's first Government in West Bengal.

Sarkar was arrested in Kashmir in 1952 while accompanying Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee during the movement to hoist the Indian tricolour there, the BJP said.

"Sarkar is one of the early grassroots figures associated with the nationalist movement in post-Independence India," the party said in a statement.

Felicitating Sarkar on the stage at the Brigade Parade Grounds here before the oath-taking ceremony of the Suvendu Adhikari government, the PM touched his feet to take his blessings and hugged the veteran l...