Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, on Friday congratulated Bollywood actor Emraan Hashmi for having successfully won the battle against his son’s cancer describing the six-year old a bigger superstar that his father.
Speaking at the launch of Hashmi’s debut book titled ‘Kiss of Life’ on Thursday evening at India Islamic Cultural Centre in Delhi, Kejriwal said, “I would like to congratulate Emraan and Bilal for writing this book. I haven t read the book yet, but from whatever I have heard now, I think your son is a bigger superstar that you.”
Hashmi’s book, which has been co-authored by himself and 21-year-old Bilal Siddiqui, extensively talks about the Azhar actor’s personal journey of coming to terms with his son Ayaan’s kidney cancer and the long struggle that he and his wife endured, before their son was medically declared ‘cancer-free’.
As reported by PTI, Ayaan was flown to Canada for a seven-month-long treatment after being diagnosed with cancer. According to the actor, the experience was not just painful but also expensive.
Kejriwal said that while Hashmi was lucky to have been able to afford the treatment, it should have been the government’s duty to come to their help.
He said, “Emraan was fortunate to have the money to take his child to Canada. But, there are a lot of people in our country who cannot afford such an expensive treatment. I think here it is the government’s responsibility to invest sufficiently in public services so that people don’t die because they don’t have money. They should get complete healthcare facilities.
That is the government’s job and in Delhi we are trying our best.”
