Gandhinagar: Against the tranquil waters of Vadnagar’s Sharmishtha Lake, Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday sought to encapsulate PM Narendra Modi’s 25 years in public life in two words — “India first”.The picturesque lake, steeped in Vadnagar’s history, provided the backdrop as Shah, Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel and Maharashtra deputy CM Eknath Shinde, among others, gathered in Modi’s hometown to mark his 76th birthday and inaugurate the ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’.The dignitaries performed a ‘maha aarti’ at the lake and then offered prayers at the historic Hatkeshwar temple dedicated to Lord Shiva before flagging off a bike rally from Modi’s ‘janmabhoomi’ (birthplace) Vadnagar to ‘karmabhoomi’ Varanasi.Born on Sept 17, 1950, Modi turned 76 on Thursday and will reach another milestone next month, when he will complete 25 uninterrupted years in public office, having first taken oath as Gujarat CM in 2001 and then as Prime Minister in 2014.Referring to his political journey, Union home minister said, “Modi’s public life will have to be written in golden letters in history as the years of poor welfare.” Modi govt’s 12 years at the Centre had brought a range of welfare measures for the underprivileged, he said, listing examples including housing, electricity, tap water, five kg of free foodgrain per person every month, health coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh, toilets and cooking gas connections.PM “was born in a poor village and personally experienced poverty”, but had nevertheless placed before the country “a vision of equitable and inclusive development”, Shah said.The Vadnagar rally was mirrored by a simultaneous rally from Varanasi. The two journeys are scheduled to conclude on Oct 7 — the day Modi completes 25 years in public office.
