"Tulsibhai": From PM, A Name For WHO Chief Visiting Gujarat

PM Modi said WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus told him he has become a "pucca Gujarati".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today gave WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus a "Gujarati name" at his request. "I am enjoying calling you Tulsibhai," PM Modi said to the WHO chief at the Global AYUSH Investment and Innovation Summit at Gandhinagar.

Generations of Indians had worshipped the Tulsi plant, PM Modi explained.

"WHO Director-General Tedros is a good friend of mine. He always told me Indian teachers taught me and I am here because of them. Today he told me - 'I have become a pucca Gujarati. Have you decided a name for me?' So I will call him Tulsibhai as a Gujarati. Tulsi is a plant that modern generations are forgetting. Generations have worshipped Tulsi. You can also use the Tulsi plant in marriage. So now you are with us," the Prime Minister said.

The PM was speaking after inaugurating a three-day Global AYUSH Investment and Innovation Summit in Gujarat. Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth was also present, besides the WHO Director General.