For many his journey from a tea seller to the prime minister of a democratic nation is a joke, some created memes on it, some mocked it, some criticised it, and some bragged about it. However, what matters to this 69 years old human being is the love, dedication and democracy of the country called India. We are talking about our Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi. Choosing the life of a monk in this era, picking a country over family in this hustle life, shows the dedication and power of a politician like him. On his birthday let’s take a look at his journey from birth to a chaiwala to entry in politics to the PM of a nation continuously in two Lok Sabha Elections.
EARLY AGE
Modi was born on September 17th, 1950, to a family of grocers in Vadnagar, Mehsana district, Bombay State (present-day in Gujarat). He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and Hiraben Modi. His family belonged to the Modh-Ghanchi-Teli community, which is categorised as an Other Backward Class (OBC) by the Indian government. In his childhood, Modi helped his father as “chaiwala” at the Vadnagar railway station, and even later he ran a tea stall with his brother near a bus terminus. Modi completed his higher secondary education in Vadnagar. He was born with the gift of being the best debater and a commendable orator.
When he was eight years old, he joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and began attending their local training sessions. There, Modi met Lakshmanrao Inamdar (Vakil Saheb), who made him as a Junior cadet in the RSS and became his political mentor later on. While Modi was training with the RSS, he also met Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders who were founding members of the BJP’s Gujarat unit in 1980 and from there the political journey of NAMO started.
Gujarat CM to India’s PM
When Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel’s health deteriorated in 2001, the BJP leadership, which was in search of a replacement, chose Narendra Modi to become the Deputy Chief Minister of the state. When Modi’s denied being Patel’s deputy, then he was selected as a replacement for the Chief Minister post. Modi swore as CM of Gujarat on October 7th, 2001, and got elected in a by-poll on February 24th, 2002.
The most controversial episode in Modi’s political career has always been the riots that took place after the Godhra train burning incident. On February 27th, 2002, a train, which was carrying a vast number of Hindu pilgrims coming from Ayodhya, was burnt near Godhra station. A day after which Modi stated in his conference that the train incident was carried out by local Muslims, a riot took place, killing hundreds of people from both communities.
His political life advanced by winning 2002, 2007 and 2012 state elections. Modi continued to sweep the state elections keeping the developmental model in Gujarat, as the base to orate on. Soon he became the dear leader of everyone in Gujarat, especially the industrialists due to his remarkable contribution in the industrial sector.
“WHAT YOU SEEK IS ALSO SEEKING YOU”
When you do any work with full will and dedication, it gives out fruitful result; the same happened in the case of our PM. After getting elected as the Chief Minister for three consecutive terms, Modi’s name came out as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha Election. Though several top BJP leaders like LK Advani opposed Modi’s candidature, he had already spread his aroma in the party, and the party found him the right option to oust the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, ruling since 1947 in an on-off manner. The 2014 General Election BJP leaned on Modi’s shoulder, who was all over the posters, television campaigns, pamphlets and hoardings, with the slogan “Ab ki bar Modi Sarkar”.
After 30 years, the BJP, of course under the leadership of Modi, became the first party to win majority number of seats in the Lok Sabha Elections. Modi contested from two seats in 2014, Vadodara and Varanasi, and won both of them with a vast majority. Even in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls too, Modi had contested from Varanasi and won with high majority ratio.
THE STRIKE MASTER
What people like about him the most is his work for the army, he never let wasted the blood of martyrs just for the sake of friendship or neighbourhood. The surgical strike against the URI base camp attack on September 26th, 2016, and the airstrike against Pulwama Attack on February 26th, 2019, India retaliated with full high Josh and power to let the terrorist and terrorism spreading nations that’YE NAYA HINDUSTAN HAI, YE GHAR MAI GHOOSEGA BHI AUR MAREGA BHI’.
THE NIGHT DECISION MAKER
From announcing Demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1000 notes to announcing new indirect tax system of GST, Modi and his government-issued everything in night period. Either they like the darkness of night or love the period as they get time till morning to be answerable to the public for their decisions. Though the Prime Minister has streamlined the tax regime and demonetisation, the opposition party leaders kept criticising him for introducing systems like this and now Article 370. The criticism continues.
The point to think about is even after the GST and demonetisation the NAMO’s magic didn’t disappear. Modi again returned as the Prime Minister with a sweeping majority by winning over 303 seats while the BJP led National Democratic Alliance got a whopping 353 seats in the 543 member Parliament in this 17th Lok sabha election held in April to May session in 2019.
The point to look forward is his tagline NA KHAUNGA NA KHANE DUNGA will prevail how longer. Will we see Modi celebrating his 73rd birthday with the same joy and happiness as PM of a democratic country or not or will BJP replace him?, if yes then who will take NAMO’s place. Let’s leave it for the time and requirement, but for today it is the HAPPY BIRTHDAY of our dear PM Narendra Modi.
