Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar, Mehsana district, Bombay State (present-day Gujarat).[24][25] His family belonged to the Modh-Ghanchi-Teli (oil-presser) community,[26][27][28] which is categorised as an Other Backward Class by the Indian government.[29][30][31] He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand (1915-1989) and Heeraben Modi (b. c. 1920).[32][33][34] As a child Modi helped his father sell tea at the Vadnagar railway station, and later ran a tea stall with his brother near a bus terminus.[35][36] He completed his higher secondary education in Vadnagar in 1967, where a teacher described him as an average student and a keen debater with an interest in theatre.[35][37] An early gift for rhetoric in debates was noted by teachers and students.[38] Modi preferred playing larger-than-life characters in theatrical productions, which has influenced his political image.[39][40]
Modi being fed by his mother
Modi with his mother, Heeraben, on his 63rd birthday in 17 September 2013.
At age eight Modi discovered the RSS, and began attending its local shakhas (training sessions). There he met Lakshmanrao Inamdar, popularly known as Vakil Saheb, who inducted him as an RSS balswayamsevak (junior cadet) and became his political mentor.[41] While Modi was training with the RSS he also met Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders who were founding members of the BJP's Gujarat unit in 1980.[42][43][44][45]
Engaged while still a child to a local girl, Jashodaben Narendrabhai Modi, Modi rejected the arranged marriage at the same time he graduated from high school.[46] The resulting familial tensions contributed to his decision to leave home in 1967.[47] He spent the ensuing two years travelling across northern and north-eastern India, though few details of where he went have emerged.[48] In interviews, Modi has described visiting Hindu ashrams founded by Swami Vivekananda: the Belur Math near Kolkata, followed by the Advaita Ashrama in Almora and the Ramakrishna mission in Rajkot. He remained only a short time at each, since he lacked the required college education.[49][50][51] Reaching the Belur Math in the early summer of 1968 and being turned away, Modi wandered through Calcutta, West Bengal and Assam, stopping by Siliguri and Guwahati.[52] He then went to the Ramakrishna ashram in Almora, where he was again rejected, before travelling back to Gujarat via Delhi and Rajasthan in 1968-69.[53] Sometime in late 1969 or early 1970, Modi returned to Vadnagar for a brief visit before leaving again for Ahmedabad.[54] There he lived with his uncle, working in the latter's canteen at the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation.[55][56] In Ahmedabad Modi renewed his acquaintance with Inamdar, who was based at Hedgewar Bhavan (RSS headquarters) in the city.[42][43][57] After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he stopped working for his uncle and became a full-time pracharak (campaigner) for the RSS.[56] In 1978 Modi became an RSS sambhaag pracharak (regional organiser), and received a degree in political science after a distance-education course from Delhi University.[58][59] Five years later, he received a Master of Arts degree in political science from Gujarat University
Modi being fed by his mother
Modi with his mother, Heeraben, on his 63rd birthday in 17 September 2013.
At age eight Modi discovered the RSS, and began attending its local shakhas (training sessions). There he met Lakshmanrao Inamdar, popularly known as Vakil Saheb, who inducted him as an RSS balswayamsevak (junior cadet) and became his political mentor.[41] While Modi was training with the RSS he also met Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders who were founding members of the BJP's Gujarat unit in 1980.[42][43][44][45]
Engaged while still a child to a local girl, Jashodaben Narendrabhai Modi, Modi rejected the arranged marriage at the same time he graduated from high school.[46] The resulting familial tensions contributed to his decision to leave home in 1967.[47] He spent the ensuing two years travelling across northern and north-eastern India, though few details of where he went have emerged.[48] In interviews, Modi has described visiting Hindu ashrams founded by Swami Vivekananda: the Belur Math near Kolkata, followed by the Advaita Ashrama in Almora and the Ramakrishna mission in Rajkot. He remained only a short time at each, since he lacked the required college education.[49][50][51] Reaching the Belur Math in the early summer of 1968 and being turned away, Modi wandered through Calcutta, West Bengal and Assam, stopping by Siliguri and Guwahati.[52] He then went to the Ramakrishna ashram in Almora, where he was again rejected, before travelling back to Gujarat via Delhi and Rajasthan in 1968-69.[53] Sometime in late 1969 or early 1970, Modi returned to Vadnagar for a brief visit before leaving again for Ahmedabad.[54] There he lived with his uncle, working in the latter's canteen at the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation.[55][56] In Ahmedabad Modi renewed his acquaintance with Inamdar, who was based at Hedgewar Bhavan (RSS headquarters) in the city.[42][43][57] After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he stopped working for his uncle and became a full-time pracharak (campaigner) for the RSS.[56] In 1978 Modi became an RSS sambhaag pracharak (regional organiser), and received a degree in political science after a distance-education course from Delhi University.[58][59] Five years later, he received a Master of Arts degree in political science from Gujarat University
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