india

Updated: Sep 20, 2019 13:31 IST

Did you know that Prime Minister Narendra Modi authored a book ‘Peelu Phool’ on untouchability and discrimination in his youth?

Or, did you know who the inspiration was behind his signature ‘Hoon khaato nathi, khava deto nathi’(neither do I take bribes, nor do I allow others to do so) statement?

An exhibition on Modi’s life lists out answers to these and many more. These exhibitions have been put up in several states as part of the Seva Saptah that the Bharatiya Janata Party is observing to celebrate the Prime Minister’s birthday. He turned 69 on Monday.

One of the posters declare when Modi went to his mother to seek her blessing before taking over as the chief minister in 2011, she took a promise from Modi that he will never accept bribe.

The exhibition portrays Modi’s life in four chapters – covering his life as a child to India’s Prime Minister. Modi’s tryst with a baby crocodile, as illustrated in a comic book on him, is part of the exhibition. One of the poster claims Modi’s patriotism became stronger while serving tea to soldiers at Vadnagar railway station during the 1962 war. “Serving tea to passengers from across the country at the railway station, he understood the diversity of India. Narendra Modi’s tryst with the NCC as a young cadet also instilled nationalism in him,” one of the posters read.

Another poster at these exhibition claims Modi draws inspiration from Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States, besides others such as Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, B R Ambedkar, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

The exhibition list out Modi’s sojourn to Himalayas, and how he arrived at the decision to choose ‘path of service’ to serve the nation. It claims Modi plunged into anti-emergency movement, and “his organisational skills and leadership qualities became an asset for the pro-democracy movement”.

Modi is a “sensitive writer, thinker and a prolific poet” and he has a Gujarati poetry collection called “Aankh aa dhanyache” and he also wrote other books such as ‘Samajik Samrasta’ and ‘Sakshibhav’, shows the exhibition. A poster on his organisational skill suggests he played a stellar role in the BJP’s ascendance in Ahmedabad local body poll of 1987 and Gujarat assembly election of 1990 and 1995. Ten separate posters showcase his tenure as chief minister of Gujarat and his contribution in the field of power generation, creating a water-grid, promoting education, infrastructure creation and others.The last chapter covers his ascendency as the Prime Minister in an “election that changed the landscape of Indian politics”.

One of the posters in this chapter reads, “Could anyone ever imagine that in the first cabinet meeting SIT against black money would be set up? Did anyone ever think that a government can take a bold decision like demonetization?”