Congratulating Bollywood actor Emraan Hashmi for having successfully won the battle against his son’s cancer, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called the six-year old a bigger superstar that his father.
Kejriwal was speaking at the launch of Hashmi’s debut book titled ‘Kiss of Life’ (Penguin Random House) held last evening at India Islamic Cultural Centre here.
The book co-authored by Hashmi and 21-year-old Bilal Siddiqui, revolves around the actor’s journey of coming to terms with his 4 year-old son Ayaan’s kidney cancer and the long struggle that he and his wife endured, before their son was medically declared ‘cancer-free’.
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.”
After Ayaan was diagnosed with the disease, he was taken to Canada for a seven-month-long treatment that was not only painful but also expensive.
According to the politician, Hashmi was fortunate to be able to finance such a costly treatment, pointing out that not everybody was capable of doing the same. It was the government’s duty to come to their aid, 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,” he said.
PTI