Established new benchmarks of good governance: Prez Murmu wishes PM Modi

President Droupadi Murmu extended birthday greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he had established new benchmarks of good governance during his 25 years in public life. The copy also traces Modi’s political journey from Gujarat to the Prime Minister’s Office.

New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday extended birthday greetings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that over the past 25 years, during his tenure as Chief Minister and Prime Minister, he has established several new benchmarks of good governance and imparted unprecedented momentum and a new direction to inclusive development.

President Murmu took to social media platform X and said, “Heartfelt birthday greetings and best wishes to the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji. Over the past 25 years, during your tenure as Chief Minister and Prime Minister, you have established many new benchmarks of good governance and imparted unprecedented momentum and a new direction to inclusive development.”

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“While advancing on the path of modern progress with a sense of cultural pride, our countrymen are realising the harmony between heritage and development. I pray to God for your excellent health and long life, so that you may continue to relentlessly advance your campaign of public service and nation-building,” the President said.

PM Modi was born on September 17, 1950, in Vadnagar, in present-day Gujarat. PM Modi was born three years after India’s Independence in 1947, making him the first Prime Minister of the country to have been born in independent India.

He grew up in a modest family and helped at his family’s tea stall during his childhood. He became an RSS pracharak in Ahmedabad in 1972, beginning a period of full-time organisational work.

During the Emergency of 1975-77, he participated in activities associated with the movement opposing the Emergency and seeking the restoration of democracy. He completed a master’s degree in political science from Gujarat University.

PM Modi began working as the BJP’s General Secretary in Gujarat in 1987, marking his formal rise within the party organisation. One of his first major assignments in the BJP involved the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation election, where the party recorded its first victory in the civic body.

In the 1990 Gujarat Assembly election, the BJP emerged as the state’s second-largest party behind the Congress. The BJP won 121 seats in the Gujarat Assembly in the 1995 election, when PM Modi was working in the party’s organisational structure.

He became a BJP national secretary in 1995 and was given responsibility for the party’s activities in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. He subsequently became the BJP’s General Secretary (Organisation), one of the party’s senior organisational positions.

He played an organisational role in the BJP’s preparations for the 1998 Lok Sabha election, when the BJP emerged as the largest constituent of the government formed under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He became the Chief Minister of Gujarat on October 7, 2001, and went on to serve in the post for more than 12 years.

He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from both Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Vadodara in Gujarat. He won both seats in the 2014 election and subsequently retained Varanasi. The BJP won 282 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 general election, giving the party a majority on its own.

He was sworn in as Prime Minister on May 26, 2014, with then President Pranab Mukherjee administering the oath at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

PM Modi contested Varanasi again in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and won the seat for a second consecutive time. The BJP won 303 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general election.

PM Modi contested the Varanasi Lok Sabha constituency for the third consecutive general election in 2024. PM Modi won Varanasi in the 2024 election and retained the constituency for a third consecutive term.

The BJP won 240 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general election, below the 272 seats required for a majority on its own. PM Modi subsequently took oath as Prime Minister for a third consecutive term.