New Delhi: Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who recently stepped down due to health issues, on Monday thanked India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi for wishing him a speedy recovery with his "warm words".
"I am deeply touched by your warm words, Prime Minister @narendramodi. I wish you all the best and hope our Partnership will be further enhanced," Abe said on Twitter.
Abe announced on Friday he was resigning because of poor health, his long-running battle with ulcerative colitis ending his tenure as Japan's longest-serving prime minister.
On Friday, Modi said on Twitter, "Pained to hear about your ill health, my dear friend @AbeShinzo. In recent years, with your wise leadership and personal commitment, the India-Japan partnership has become deeper and stronger than ever before. I wish and pray for your speedy recovery."
Abe had been due to stay on until September 2021, when his party presidency terms ends, giving him an opportunity to see out one final event in his historic tenure -- the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games.
A sprightly 52 years old when he first became prime minister in 2006, Abe was the youngest person ever to occupy the job, and was seen as a symbol of change and youth.
His first term was turbulent; shot through with scandals and discord, and capped by an abrupt resignation that made him the latest in a succession of short-lived Japanese prime ministers.
After initially suggesting he was stepping down for political reasons, he subsequently acknowledged he was suffering an ailment later diagnosed as ulcerative colitis.
The debilitating bowel condition necessitated months of treatment, but was, he said, eventually overcome with the help of new medication.
The revolving prime ministerial door brought him back to office in 2012 -- and, until Friday, had stayed shut for an unusually long time.
With Japan still staggering from the effects of the 2011 tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster at Fukushima -- and with its inexperienced government lashed for flip-flopping and incompetence -- the wily veteran offered a seemingly safe pair of hands.
He also had a plan. He called it Abenomics.
The scheme to revive Japan's long-stalled economy -- still the world's third biggest, but more than two decades into stagnation -- involved vast government spending, massive monetary easing and the cutting of red tape.
He also sought to boost the country's flagging birth rate by making workplaces more friendly to parents, particularly mothers, and pushed through controversial consumption tax hikes partially intended to help fund free nursery school places for children, and plug gaps in Japan's overstretched social security system.
