NAMO : A JOURNEY FROM TEA BOY TO PM
Narendra Modi was born in a small town of Vadnagar, in northern Gujarat. His father was a street merchant, who had a small tea stall near small Vadnagar station. When he was six years old, use to sell tea at Vadnagar Station to help his father, to the passengers, whenever a train came into the small Vadnagar station. His family belonged to the marginalized sections of society and had to struggle make ends meet. These formative years left a strong imprint on Modi. Modi was an average student in his student life but he use to spent hours in the library and he was also known as a very strong DEBATER .Among the sports, he was very fond of swimming. As a child, Narendra Modi had one dream-to serve in the Indian Army.
If there is one word that can define Modi’s entire life, it is ‘SERVICE’. When the war with Pakistan was at its peak, he use to serve tea to the JAWANs who were coming and going from the border. Though this was a very small step at a remarkably young age, but it showed his Love & Respect for the Mother Land.
In his early teens, he joined Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Modi married at 18 but spent little time with his wife and eventually ended the marriage. He dedicated his life to politics in Gujarat. He joined RSS in 1971 and moved into Hedgewar Bhawan. His early responsibilities included making tea, breakfast and evening snacks for senior colleagues. . During the 1975-77 political crisis, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency, banning political organizations such as the RSS. Modi went underground and wrote a book, Sangharsh ma Gujarat (Gujarat in Emergency). In 1978, Modi graduated from Delhi University with a degree in political science and completed his M.A from Gujrat University in 1983.
He was among the first two Pracharaks who began working full-time in the BJP. In 1987, Narendra Modi joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In 1995, Modi was elected BJP national secretary. L.K. Advani's Rath Yatra was Modi's first national-level political assignment. But it was Murli Manohar Joshi's Ekta Yatra to Srinagar, where he had a more major role to play. In 2001, the boy who once sold tea to train passengers became its chief minister. The Godhra killings was the worst incident under his governs. Modi’s government was criticized for the harsh crackdown, and he was accused of allowing the killings of more than 1,000 Muslims. After two investigations contradicted one other, the Indian Supreme Court concluded there was no evidence Modi was at fault. And again Narendra Modi was reelected as chief minister of Gujarat in 2007 and 2012. Modi's hard-line Hinduism softened and he spoke more about economic growth. He is credited with bringing prosperity and development to Gujarat and is seen as a corrupt-free and efficient administrator. However, some say he has done little to alleviate poverty and improve living standards.
And Elected PM….
In June 2013, Modi was selected to head the BJP’s 2014 election campaign to the Lok Sabha, while a grassroots campaign was already in place to elect him prime minister. Modi campaigned hard, portraying himself as a pragmatic candidate capable of turning around India’s economy. In May 2014, he and his party were victorious, taking 282 of the 534 seats in the Lok Sabha. The victory marked a crushing defeat to the Indian National Congress, which had controlled Indian politics for most of the previous 60 years, and sent a message that India’s citizens were behind an agenda of radical change.
