Prime Minister Narendra Modi Turns 70 Today: Here is a Look at His Political Career

Prime Minister Narendra Damodar Modi turned a year older on Thursday. He was born in Vadnagar in Mehsana District of North Gujarat in 1950.

Prime Minister Modi’s political career began in 1965 after he joined the Jan Sangh in Ahmedabad. He started off as the Kankaria ward secretary in the organisation.

In the year 2014, he contested the Lok Sabha election as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Bhartiya Janata Party. He won the polls with a thumping majority and has become the Prime Minister of India.

In 2019, he again contested the General Elections as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate. This time too, he had a massive victory in the polls and has been the Prime Minister for the second term.

As the Prime Minister of India turns a year older, here is a look at his political career:

After being the Kankaria ward secretary in the Jan Sangh Ahmedabad, Modi joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the year 1972. During that time, he also set up one of the units of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of RSS. Furthermore, he was also soon appointed as the General Secretary of Gujarat Lok Sangharsh Samiti, another wing of the RSS.

It is only in the year 1987 that Modi entered active politics by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Within a year of joining the party, the BJP leader was given the post of the General Secretary of the Gujarat unit.

In 1995, BJP succeeded in winning the general elections in Gujarat. After the party’s victory, he was elevated to the post of National Secretary of the Bhartiya Janata Party. In 1998, he was appointed as the General Secretary of the BJP.

2001 certainly be termed as the most important political year in the Modi’s career. It is in this year when the then Prime Minister Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee asked Modi to take over the charge as the chief minister of Gujarat after the then CM of Gujarat Keshubhai Patel’s health condition deteriorated.

In the following year, Modi was elected to power in the by-poll on February 24, 2002. Modi remained the chief minister of Gujarat till 2012. He was elected thrice as the CM of the state. He first came to power in 2002, then in 2007 and again in 2012.

In 2014, he became the Prime Ministerial candidate for the BJP. He contested the elections from Varanasi and won the polls with a landslide majority. In 2019, again he was made the face of the PM candidate of the party. Yet again, he won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with thumping majority.