Prime Minister Narendra Modi turns 69 today: A look at his many firsts

india

Updated: Sep 17, 2019 09:32 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi turns 69 on Tuesday and the Bharatiya Janata Party has kicked off a ‘Seva Saptah’ (service week) to mark his birthday celebrations. The ruling party at the Centre will also undertake innumerable social initiatives across the nation from September 14-20. A number of exhibitions are also in the pipeline to showcase the social work done by the prime minister. Here are ten interesting facts about India’s 14th prime minister:

1.Born on September 17, 1950, Narendra Damodardas Modi is the first prime minister the country has had who was born in independent India.

2.Narendra Modi left home in his early teens to travel across India. He stayed in various ashrams and was fascinated by the might and grandeur of the Himalayas.

3.He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on October 3, 1972.

4.In October 2001, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee appointed Narendra Modi as the chief minister of Gujarat.

5.Narendra Modi won a Time Magazine reader’s poll and was voted the person of the year in 2014.

6.He became the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel. Modi completed a three-day visit to Tel Aviv and gave fresh impetus to 25 years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel.

7. Modi became the first non-Congress prime minister to win two consecutive terms with a full majority when the Bharatiya Janata Party swept the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

8.During the state of emergency imposed across the country in 1975 by then prime minister Indira Gandhi, Modi was forced to go into hiding. Civil rights were restricted at that time and protesters were often arrested. Modi had to go into hiding for being involved in the movement to restore those rights.

9.Modi visited Pakistan on December 25, 2015. He met then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif. It was the first time an Indian premier had visited Pakistan in almost 12 years.

10.Narendra Modi prefers to wear clothes which are well ironed and do not have any creases. It is a childhood habit which he continues till date.