Damodardas Mulchand Modi no relation Narendra
Early life and education
Narendra Damodardas Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a Gujarati Hindu family of grocers in Vadnagar, Mehsana district, Bombay State (present-day Gujarat). He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi (c. 1915–1989) and Hiraben Modi (1923–2022). His family belonged to the Modh-Ghanchi-Teli (oil-presser) community, which is categorised as an Other Backward Class by the Indian government.Modi had only infrequently spoken of his family background during his 13 years as chief minister of Gujarat. In the run up to the 2014 national elections, he began to regularly draw attention to his low-ranking social origins and to having to work as a child in his father's tea shop on the Vadnagar railway station platform, a description that the evidence of neighbours does not entirely corroborate. Modi completed his higher secondary education in Vadnagar in 1967, where teachers described him as an average student and a keen gifted debater, with interest in theatre. He preferred playing larger-than-life characters in theatrical productions, which has influenced his political image.When eight years old, Modi was introduced to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and began attending its local shakhas (training sessions). There, he met Lakshmanrao Inamdar, popularly known as Vakil Saheb, who inducted him as a balswayamsevak (junior cadet) in the RSS and became his political mentor. 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.In a custom traditional to Narendra Modi's caste, his family arranged a betrothal to a girl, Jashodaben Chimanlal Modi, leading to their marriage when she was 17 and he was 18. Soon afterwards, he abandoned his bride, and left home, never divorcing her, but the marriage remaining unmentioned in his public pronouncements for many decades. In April 2014, shortly before the national elections that swept him to power, he publicly affirmed that he was married and his spouse was Jashodaben; the couple has remained married, but estranged. Reportedly, their marriage was never consummated, and he kept it a secret because otherwise he could not have become a pracharak in the puritan RSS.Modi spent the ensuing two years travelling across Northern and North-eastern India, though few details of where he went have emerged. In interviews, he 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. Vivekananda has been described as a large influence in Modi's life.In the early summer of 1968, Modi reached the Belur Math but was turned away, after which he wandered through Calcutta, West Bengal and Assam, stopping in Siliguri and Guwahati. 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. Sometime in late 1969 or early 1970, he returned to Vadnagar for a brief visit before leaving again for Ahmedabad. There, he lived with his uncle, working in the latter's canteen at the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation.In Ahmedabad, Modi renewed his acquaintance with Inamdar, who was based at the Hedgewar Bhavan (RSS headquarters) in the city. Modi's first known political activity as an adult was in 1971 when he, as per his remarks, joined a Jana Sangh Satyagraha in Delhi led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee to enlist for the battlefield during the Bangladesh Liberation War. The Indira Gandhi-led central government disallowed open support for the Mukti Bahini, and Modi says he was put in Tihar Jail for a short period. After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he stopped working for his uncle and became a full-time pracharak (campaigner) for the RSS, working under Inamdar. Shortly before the war, Modi took part in a non-violent protest against the Indian government in New Delhi, for which he was arrested (as per his claim); this has been cited as a reason for Inamdar electing to mentor him. Many years later, he would co-author a biography of Inamdar, published in 2001. Modi's claim that he was part of a Satyagraha led to a political war. Applications were filed with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) under the RTI Act seeking details of his arrest. In reply, the PMO claimed that it maintains official records on Modi only since he took charge as the prime minister in 2014. Despite this claim, the official website of the PMO contains specific information about Modi which dates back to the 1950s.In 1978, Modi received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the School of Open Learning (SOL) at the University of Delhi, graduating with a third class. Five years later, in 1983, he received a Master of Arts degree in political science from Gujarat University, graduating with a first class as an external distance learning student. There is a controversy surrounding his educational qualification. Replying to an RTI query, the SOL said it did not have any data of students who received a BA degree in 1978. Jayantibhai Patel, a former political science professor of Gujarat University, claimed that the subjects listed in Modi's MA degree were not offered by the university when Modi was studying there.
no relation