Narendra Modi, who will be sworn in as Prime Minister on Monday, has created electoral history by leading the Bharatiya Janata Party to a momentous victory in the 16th Lok Sabha election. But in his hometown of Vadnagar, old friends speak of Mr. Modi’s first election that is etched in their memory — the one which elected him representative of Class 9 in B.N. High School.
“When we were in Class 9, he told me he had filled the form for the CR [class representative] elections. I cautioned him that our parents had sent us to school to study and that he should not get involved in these activities,” says Sudhir Joshi, who shared a bench with Mr. Modi in the class. “He said, ‘Now that I have filled the form, I won’t withdraw my entry.’ That’s how he was. Once he decided something, he would pursue it till the end.”
“He campaigned for that election. I think he promised to present our demands to the school principal. In a class of 50 students, all except a few voted for him and so did I,” Mr. Modi’s childhood friend recalls fondly.
Close tiesMr. Joshi says Mr. Modi chose to attend the inauguration of a computer lab in the school rather than the flagging off of the Delhi-Lahore bus service on the Wagah border during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s term. “He was in a dilemma as both functions were on the same day. I left it to him to decide. He called two hours later, and said he was coming to the school,” Mr. Joshi says.
In Vadnagar in Mehsana district, celebrations have not ceased since the election results were declared on May 16. Strings of electric lights glow in the tiny bazaars and adorn the six gates of this old temple town, giving a festive air to the evenings.
As Mr. Modi takes the oath of office, residents will light lamps in their homes. “The lamp is part of a ‘Vijay Utsav’ [victory celebration]. Sweets will be distributed, firecrackers will be lit, people will play with ‘gulal’ [pink powder used in Holi celebrations] and a music band will play,” says Nagjibhai Desai, another school friend of Mr. Modi.
Vadnagar municipal president Sunil Mehta is busy on the phone making arrangements for an open-air screening of the swearing-in.
In the air thick with excitement, old memories return to 75-year-old P.G. Patel, Mr. Modi’s Gujarati teacher. He thinks of his favourite student as a good dramatist and orator. A young Modi played the role of Jogidas Khuman, a notable outlaw and rebel known in Saurashtra with flair, the teacher recalls.
To him, Mr. Modi was “Nariya,” a term of endearment. “Before he became Chief Minister, I met him on a train once. He asked me if I had recognised him. He said, ‘I am your Nariya.’ He has a strong bond with Vadnagar,” Mr. Patel says.
On the topic of the school elections however, Mr. Modi’s friend Nagjibhai Desai has an old grouse. He recalled that he stood for the class representative election in Class 11. “I asked Mr. Modi to vote for me, but he refused. He said he would vote for his neighbour, also a contender, instead. ,” he recalls.
