Prime Minister Narendra Modi will celebrate his 70th birthday. As the leader of the world’s largest democracy, he enjoys immense popularity within the country and abroad. As Modi turns a year older, we take a look at some of his rare and unseen pictures... (Image: @narendramodi/Twitter)
Reliving precious moments and special memories. I have been receiving many old photos from various friends. I am sharing few such photos with a request- if you have such memories, kindly share them with me. Here is a good place to do so: narendramodi.in/memories," he said on Twitter. (Image: @narendramodi/Twitter)
A look at the incredible journey of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in rare images on his 69th birthday. For one who sold tea as a boy at a railway station in Gujarat, Narendra Modi has had a meteoric rise in Indian politics, catapulting from an untested chief minister to the prime minister. (Image: News18 Telugu)
Born into an ordinary lower-middle-class family in Mehsana district in Gujarat Sep 17, 1950, he was the third of four children. His father, Damodardas, made tea at a small shop. The son would take it in a kettle to sell it to train passengers at the Vadnagar railway station. (Image: News18 Telugu)
Modi displayed skills at oratory even in school. He would often disappear from his family for months, staying in isolated places or wandering in the Himalayas.
He moved to the RSS office in Delhi where his chores included, after waking up at 4 a.m., cleaning the office, making tea as well as breakfast and evening snacks for senior colleagues, and replying to emails.
When Indira Gandhi declared emergency rule and jailed political foes, Modi - back in Gujarat by then - went underground, tirelessly crisscrossed places on a Bajaj scooter, occasionally disguised, and printed and sent booklets against the central government to Delhi.
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.
Modi slowly took control of the BJP across the length and breadth of Gujarat, interacting intimately with activists, and played a key role in 1990 when Advani took out his Rath Yatra (chariot march) from Somnath to Ayodhya, an event that catapulted the BJP on to the national stage like never before.
Over time, Modi became a symbol of development and the party's ability to deliver good governance. Large sections of the middle class began to root for him, especially for his I-can-do attitude and his resolve to fix the ills of the nation plaguing by multiple problems, including a languishing economy.
Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014. He became the first Prime Minister born after India's independence from the British Empire.
Gujarat state Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Arun Jaitley ride in a jeep during the 'Gujarat Gaurav Yatra' or Pride of Gujarat Procession, in Karamsad. (Image: AFP)
As a BJP activist, Modi is asking for the good of the people in remote villages. (Image: News18 Telugu)