(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Aug 25 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared on Sunday a heartwarming story of affection between humans and animals in Barekuri village in Assam's Tinsukia district in his monthly programme 'Mann Ki Baat'.

PM Modi said the locals in the village started cultivating bananas for Hoolock Gibbons in their fields after they realised that the apes love this fruit.

He said, "My dear countrymen, you must have seen so many films on the love between humans and animals! But a real story is being made in Assam these days. In the small village of Barekuri in the Tinsukia district of Assam, people of the Moran community live beside 'Hoolock Gibbon', also called 'Holo Bandar'."

"Hoolock Gibbons have made this village their home. You will be surprised to know that the people of this village share a deep bond with Hoolock Gibbons. The people of the village still follow their traditional values. Therefore, they do all those things, which would strengthen their relationship with Gibbons. When they realised that Gibbons love bananas, they also started cultivating bananas," the Prime Minister said.

PM Modi also mentioned that the villagers have also named Hoolock Gibbons.

He stated, "Apart from this, they decided that they would perform rituals connected with the birth and death of Gibbons, exactly as they would have performed for their near and dear ones. They have also given names to the gibbons. Recently, the gibbons were facing hardships due to the electricity wires passing nearby. So the people of this village raised this issue with the government and soon a solution was found."

The Prime Minister stated that the animals in the village have also learnt to pose for pictures.

"I am told that now these gibbons also pose for photographs," he added.

Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to social media platform X and shared the quotes from PM Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat' programme.

He wrote, "PM @narendramodi shares a heartwarming story of human-animal bonding from Tinsukia, Assam in #MannKiBaat."

MENAFN25082024000231011071ID1108597654