Perform your duty for humanity and nation, says Hukmdev Narayan Yadav to COVID-19 warrior in his family

Politicians have often been criticised for not sending their children to harm's way and securing plush jobs for them in multinationals or sending them abroad for studies.

However, as the world fights a war against COVID-19, exceptions are making Indian polity proud and are sending their children to hospitals as frontline coronavirus warriors.

The family of veteran BJP leader from Bihar Hukmdev Narayan Yadav is one of them.

With fear in their heart and prayers on their lips, the Yadavs send off Ankita Yadav, niece of Yadav, to Safdarjung Hospital where she is posted as a senior resident in the Anesthesia Department. The hospital has a dedicated COVID-19 ICU.

Every time she leaves for her duty, both Yadav and his wife perform 'arti' to wish her health and safe return.

His eyes well up every time he sends her off to the hospital, which he considers is a service to humty. "These are warriors who are fighting for humty. These people have put their lives at stake for others. There is always a fear of catching infection but then I pray to goddess Kali when fear starts to haunt me," said Yadav.

Against common belief that politicians don't send their children to dangerous places and keep them protected, Yadav believes differently. "Politicians need to set an example and, in fact, should lead by example if they want others to follow. This is service to nation and we are glad to have a corona warrior in our family," the former Union Minister said.

"Hum sab tab rahenge jab desh rahega aur tabhi mandir, masjid aur gurudware bhi rahenge (We will exist only when we were able to save the nation. And the existence of religious places like temples, mosques and gurudwaras depends on the existence of our nation). There are a few politicians who don't believe in Ram, Krishna and Shiva. Their belief is somewhere else. But we believe in these gods and therefore learning from their acts, it is our duty to sacrifice everything for this nation," added Yadav.

Ankita Yadav, whose father Arvind Yadav is also a BJP politician from Haryana, is confident of performing her duties at the government hospital. She is soon likely to be posted in the COVID-19 ward.

"We are also under stress because we don't know whether the patient we are attending to is COVID-19 positive or not. But we handle it as part of our duty to keep the morale of the patient up. My family stood by me and gave me strength during these tough times. I will be posted in the COVID ward in the coming few days and I hope to perform my duty with full dedication," stated the doctor.

Speaking about the ill-treatment meted out to the doctors, Yadav said, "I feel bad about these incidents. As everyone is dependent on us, we can't lose hope."

( With inputs from ANI )