Biography of Narendra Modi – Prime Minister of India

Narendra Modi Biography

Narendra Damodardas Modi was born on September 17, 1950 in Vadnagar, a small village in Mehsana district of Gujarat. He was the third of the six children of Damodardas and Hiraba Modi. Modi’s father was a tea stall owner and quite often Narendra would accompany his father to work. However, at 17, he made the exceptional decision of leaving home and travelling the country. His family was shocked by the decision, but let him go. He travelled to the Himalayas, to West Bengal and even the north-east.Inspired by his various travel experiences, Narendra joined the RSS. His first job at the organization was to mop the floor at the RSS headquarters in Ahmedabad. He then met Laxmanrao Inamdar, who soon became his greatest inspiration. Modi was enamored by his oratory skills. Modi was married young but the marriage remained unconsummated. He kept the wedding a secret as he imbibed the spirit of selflessness, social responsibility, dedication and nationalism. In 1972, Modi became a pracharak, dedicating his entire life to the organization and service. He worked hard, waking at 5 a.m. and accomplishing difficult tasks late into the night. In 1973, he also got the opportunity to meet senior Jan Sangh members.

In 1971, Indira Gandhi swept to power. However, the euphoria soon died away and dreams fizzled out owing to the rampant corruption. Amid all the discontent, Indira Gandhi in 1975 promulgated the Emergency. Democracy was under attack, freedom of the press was muzzled. Senior opposition leaders such as L K Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee were arrested.

Narendra Modi Politics

Modi was at the core of the anti-Emergency movement. He became the general secretary of the Gujarat Lok Sangharsh Samiti and his primary role was to coordinate between activists in the state. It is said that to avoid arrests and the governments ire, Modi began disguising himself – dressed as a Sikh one day, an elderly man another day.

After Emergency, the Indira Gandhi government was routed in the polis and the new Janata Party government ascended to power. At the same time, Modi was promoted to sambhaag pracharak, the equivalent of a regional organizer, and soon, he began travelling far and wide, spreading the RSS word. Even as he embraced politics, Modi graduated in political science from Delhi University and went on to do his Masters from Gujarat University. Modi won the admiration of seniors for his hard work and efficiency. In 1987-88, he was deputed to the BJP’s Gujarat unit as organizing secretary, marking his formal launch in mainstream politics.

Recognized as a master strategist, Modi was trusted with the municipal elections in Ahmedabad. Taking on the challenge head-on, Modi began touring the entire state, campaigning and spreading the BJP’s word and worked tirelessly to ensure a victory. His result bore fruit when the party won the elections. With the assembly elections approaching in 1990, Modi was once again entrusted to repeat his previous performance. The BJP came a close second to the Janata Dal and after that the BJP emerged as a formidable force in the state. It was in the late l990s when Modi started to emerge as a key player when he became the general secretary of the party in Delhi. It was then that he was handed over the responsibility of carrying out national yatras. He was tasked with ensuring that L K Advani’s Somnath to Ayodhya yatra went off without any hitch. The task was not easy, but Modj carried it off to perfection.

Then in 1992, Modi helped Muni Manohar Joshi carry out the Ekta Yatra. The yatra was held in the backdrop of the volatile atmosphere in Kashmir after terrorists refused to allow the hoisting of the Tricolour in Srinagar. Before the yatra commenced, Modi inspected all the locations himself. In 2001, Modi received his huge break as chiefminister ofGujarat, when Keshubhai Patel was forced to step down in the fallout from the January Bhuj earthquake that killed around 2,000 people. Trusted with rehabilitation efforts, Modi began the task in earnest and led the cftòrts to rebuild. And since 2001, Moth remained the chicfmjnistcr in the state, winning in the polls consecutively. Ills development model has helped Gujarat surge ahead and he hopes to follow the same on a national level too.

Born in a middle-class family and running a tea stall with his father as a teenager, Narendra Damodardas Modi has travelled a long distance – from being a RSS pracharak in his young days, to being the Chief Minister of Gujarat four times in a row, to being the 15th Prime Minister of India Modi’s journey has truly been remarkable and he has emerged as a symbol of hope for the people of India.