In pics: From Vadnagar railway station to 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, life and journey of Narendra Modi
Born in a poor family, Modi has come a long way, from a modest background to first be appointed as the Gujarat chief minister and three terms later become the prime minister of the world’s largest democracy and the most populous nation on the globe
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned 74 on Tuesday. He was born on September 17, 1950, in Gujarat’s Mehsana district to Hiraben and Damodardas Modi. Born in a poor family, Modi has come a long way, from a modest background to first be appointed as the Gujarat chief minister and three terms later become the prime minister of the world’s largest democracy and the most populous nation on the globe.
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We look at some interesting anecdotes from his life and tell you through his photographs, capturing his life before politics and also as a political campaigner of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which by the size of its membership claims to be the world’s largest political party.
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Before becoming India’s prime minister in 2014, Modi held the record of being the longest-serving chief minister of Gujarat from late 2001 to mid-2014, winning three consecutive assembly elections for his party.
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Modi became the first prime minister of India who was born in Independent India. All others were born when the British were still ruling the country.
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PM Modi was raised in Vadnagar, a small town in Gujarat’s Mehsana, and as a boy helped his father sell tea at the nearby train station.
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After learning about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the age of eight, Modi got attached to the organisation and started attending their seminars and training sessions. RSS leader Lakshmanrao Inamdar was his mentor during these years. Inamdar got him enrolled as a junior cadet in the RSS.
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As a young boy, Modi wanted to join the Indian Army. He wished to attend Sainik School in nearby Jamnagar, but he could not pursue his dreams due to his family’s poor financial condition.
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PM Modi earned his diploma in high school in 1967 and his bachelor’s degree in political science in 1978. In 1982, he graduated with a master’s degree from Gujarat University.
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In 1973, Modi participated in the Navnirman movement, which contributed to the overthrow of the state’s Congress government. During the campaign, Modi also had the opportunity to interact with freedom fighter and anti-corruption crusader Jayaprakash Narayan.
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During the Emergency period, Modi went into hiding. He wrote a book about it in Gujarati that narrates the events of the period.
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During a meeting with Bharatiya Jan Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh and Narendra Modi, trade union leader George Fernandes, who later became the defence minister, argued for an armed uprising against the Indira Gandhi government. Modi, however, rejected the idea, arguing that the movement must remain nonviolent.
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Following the war in 1971, PM Modi started working full-time as an RSS campaigner. In 1985, he was allocated to the BJP.
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As a devoted adherent of Swami Vivekananda’s teachings, PM Modi has frequently visited the Ramakrishna Mission, Advaita Ashrama, and Belur Math — three of Vivekananda’s ashrams.
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Forbes magazine ranked PM Modi 15th in the 2014 list of most powerful people. Time magazine named him Person of the Year the same year. In 2014, 2015, and 2017, he was listed among Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the world.
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With over 90 million followers, Prime Minister Modi is the second most popular prominent figure on the social networking platform ‘X’ (previously known as Twitter).
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