New Delhi, April 4: A day after his appeal to the nation to switch off lights and light a candle for 9 minutes on April 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared a video of his mentor and former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Twitter. The Prime Minister shared a video of Vajpayee reciting his iconic poem - "Aao fir se diya jalaye" (Let us light the candle again). In the 50-second clip, Vajpayee is seen reciting his poem with the caption; "We have to challenge the darkness of Corona together." On Friday, the Twitter handle of BJP had tweeted the same video.

The Prime Minister has urged all citizens to light a candle, diyas at 9 pm on Sunday for nine minutes to show their solidarity with the fight against the coronavirus outbreak in the country. On Friday, the Prime Minister requested people of India to switch off all the lights for nine minutes on April 5 to mark the nation's fight against coronavirus." PM Narendra Modi's April 5 Blackout Call Puts Power Sector on Alert Mode to Maintain Grid Stability.

Here's the Video Tweeted by PM Narendra Modi:

According to a report by IANS, the poem which is about hope and positivity,  is believed to have been penned after an electoral debacle of BJP when Lal Krishna Advani took Vajpayee to Delhi's Golcha cinema to cheer him up. On returning home, he wrote this poem which said, "Let us light the lamp once again".

On Friday, the Prime Minister, in a video message had urged people of the nation to switch off lights of their homes at 9 pm for nine minutes on April 5. In his message, he asked people to light up lamps, candles and mobile flashlights to display the nation's collective spirit to defeat coronavirus.

On March 24, during his address to the nation, the Prime Minister had announced a 21-day lockdown in the country to contain the spread of coronavirus. During the last "Mann Ki Baat" on COVID-19 related issue, he had apologised to the countrymen for taking the tough decision of enforcing complete lockdown in the nation.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 04, 2020 12:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).