Patna, Feb. 18: “Jindagi rahi ta milte rahab (I will keep on meeting you as long as I am alive)”.

These were the Bhojpuri words Navinchandra Ramgoolam uttered at the reception party that Nitish Kumar had organised to felicitate the Mauritius Prime Minister here today.

Ramgoolam narrated the story of how his grandfather Mohit and father Seewosagar had played an important role in Mauritius.

“But we have not forgotten our roots in Bihar. I will come to Bihar again and again for I treat Bihar as a land of my brothers and sisters,” he said, profusely thanking the Bihar chief minister for setting up a statue of his father here and also naming a road after him.

“I am overwhelmed to see the statue of the great son of Bihar’s soil (Seewosagar) in Patna,” said Ramgoolam, who inaugurated the statue and the road.

He also recalled his father’s association with Indian freedom fighters, especially Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

“Few people know that my father edited the book on struggle that Netaji wrote. We still have the manuscript in Netaji’s handwriting which I will send to the Bihar CM,” he said.

He also expressed happiness over the Bihar government initiating the Trace the roots programme to enable the people of Indian origin living elsewhere to find their roots in the country of their ancestors.

Nitish Kumar, describing Ramgoolam “not a guest but brother”, announced that his government had named the pond at Harigaon village as “Mohit Pokhara (Mohit pond).