Prime Minister Narendra Modi turns 67

Narendra Damordardas Modi, our 14th Prime Minister, turns 67 today. Modi, who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014, became the Prime Minister of India in May 2014. Ever since he took office, he has been at the receiving end of utmost praise as well as sheer criticism. India has been divided on its opinion about how well of a leader he is, with his ‘bhakts’ calling him one of the greatest Prime Ministers of India. But we would like to settle with the fact that you can love Modi or you can hate him, but you most definitely cannot ignore him.

With a humble beginning as a chaiwala, to now being one of the most influential leaders, Modi’s journey has been a roller coaster, and is nothing short of a heavy dose of inspiration.  Like each story, there have been a few misses here and there, but what matters is his will and action to push India ahead in every domain possible. While NaMo’s government has made rather successful developments in the past 3 years, there is a lot that remains to be unveiled by his government in the coming years.

On our Prime Minister’s birthday, we go through some of the achhe din and bure din that have so far been a part of his teanure

• Campaigns such as Make in India, Swachh Bharat, Digital India and Skill India by Modi have been well received by a large part of our population and from other nations as well. These campaigns also focus on defense, employment, education.

• As soon as he joined office, he made certain changes in the functioning of the governmental institutions, with stricter rules being followed to maintain discipline among all sectors – a good move on the part of a Prime Minister.

• Narendra Modi has travelled extensively to other countries and interacted with their leaders in a span of 3 years. This comes as a probable attempt to not only strengthen ties between the nations but also as a way to put India ahead on the global front and to gain mutual benefits by the global interaction. Be it Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama, Shinzo Abe or Xi Jinping, they all call him a world leader, and for good reason.

• Modi is among the few politicians who addresses the joint sessions of parliament/houses in countries such as USA, Australia and Britain etc. He also addresses the Indian expatriates in US, Canada, Britain etc.

• He has rolled out many policies and reforms for the overall growth of India through various sectors such as infrastructure, electricity, health etc. Implementation of smart cities project, Jan Dhan Yojana, Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao, etc. have been praised.

• Recent developments like GST and the Bullet Train project are also some of the initiatives that Indians are looking forward to.

• Apart from his projects and policies, Modi has always been a favorite of his mitron for being who he is. His dynamic personality, great oratory skills, humble and grounded character are few of his traits that make him a prominent leader.

One cannot deny that Modi’s government has also been criticized many times. Narendra Modi becoming the Prime Minister didn’t go down well for many. Indian media has also been accused of being anti-Modi a couple of times. However, is the hate justified for the actions that they have been criticized for?

• His involvement and connection with Gujarat riots has been a hot topic of debate since always.

• What was seen as a major historic reform, garnered a lot of anger and dislike for the Modi Government. The biggest Modi controversy – Demonetization. While some applauded this move by the government, others deemed it as a threat to the Indian economy.

• Modi has been under attack for the rise of communal utterances since he took office, and has been blamed for narrow nationalism. Many believe that he is a danger to the basic rights and ideologies of Indians, and wants to paint everything with the saffron color. His Hindutva inclination and RSS affinity has received a lot of disproval from other political parties as well.

Well, some adore him and some are just probably going with the flows. After all, he is our Prime Minister, fulfilling his duties, or slipping off through some. Happy Birthday, dear PM NaMo!