Mehsana (Gujarat), Sep 17 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi's childhood Daulat Khan Pathan, greeted him on 76th birthday and extended warm wishes, while recalling memories and anecdotes from their growing up years. He also shared glimpses of the Prime Minister's life before he took the political plunge and was subsequently elected to public office.

Daulat Khan Pathan's family was PM Modi's neighbour at their village in Gujarat's Vadnagar.

Speaking to IANS, he said: "Today is Modi saab's birthday, he is our PM. His hometown is in Vadnagar where the Modi community's neighborhood and our Pathan neighborhood were right next to each other. Whether we had to go to the market, the STD booth, or the railway station, we always crossed paths, often passing in front of Modi saab's house."

Pathan shared that he and PM Modi together went to Prerna School up to the seventh grade.

"After passing the seventh grade, we both enrolled in B.N. High School in Vadnagar for our secondary education. As students, we did everything together—studying, attending tuition classes, and preparing for exams," he reminisced.

He said that during school days, Prime Minister Modi used to participate in debates and plays.

"We played and lived together. It wouldn't be wrong to say he grew up right alongside us in our neighborhood. Back then, the Modi community, the Pathan community, and others all lived like one big family; there were no issues or conflicts—we lived in harmony and always helped one another," he shared.

Back at that time, both Pathan and PM Modi's families faced severe financial hardship.

Pathan recalled: "We used to have only two pairs of clothes and used to wear those on alternate days while going to school. In fact, till 12-13 years of age we went to school barefoot. We didn't even have Re. 1 to buy rubber slippers."

A pivotal childhood moment occurred in 1961 when both boys wished to join the RSS under Dr. Vasant Parikh but lacked the Rs 1 registration fee.

"We only got one paisa from our homes at that time, not more than that, which we used to eat peanuts. So, where would we get Rs 1?"

Narendra Modi, as a young boy, personally visited Pathan’s home to persuade his mother to provide the money, while Pathan approached PM Modi’s mother, Heeraben, and convinced her to contribute the rupee, enabling both to register. Although, Pathan’s fee was returned three days later due to his religious background.

The now Prime Minister initially insisted he would not stay without his friend—until Pathan urged him to remain, so he could receive the shorts provided by the organization.

Decades later, during a 2009 meeting at the Gujarat Chief Minister's office, PM Modi fondly reminisced with Pathan about those childhood shorts and jokingly offered to give him "half of Gujarat" upon retirement, though family responsibilities ultimately prevented Pathan from entering active politics with the BJP.

Further, Daulat Khan Pathan said that due to certain family situation, the Prime Minister was compelled to leave his village in the Diwali vacation of his college in 1968.

"We don't know what he did or where he was for the next three years. His mother used to get emotional for him while speaking to me. Later on, I came to know that he spent those years in different parts of the country and during that time witnessed the extreme poverty prevalent across the nation," he mentioned.

Pathan said that PM Modi returned to his village in Vadnagar in May 1971 for two days.

"He was a changed man by then and only spoke about serving the people of India," he recalled.

After two days, PM Modi went to the RSS office at Khadia in Ahmedabad and stayed there and worked with the then Bharatiya Jana Sangh and RSS workers.

"He served opposition leaders imprisoned during the 1975 Emergency, authored his first book 'Sangharsh Ma Gujarat'. Later he took RSS workers with him during the 1977 Morbi floods and handed over every piece of recovered gold jewelry to the police. After the formation of the BJP, he took up work related to the party's functioning," Pathan shared.

He added that subsequently PM Modi started working for the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and as part of it, distributed RSS newspapers related to the movement, among people travelling in cars to cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata etc.

"PM Modi never shied away from taking up even the smallest party work including putting up BJP posters," Pathan told IANS.

--IANS

cg/mr