Vadnagar: Ancient town that shaped Modi’s early years
Vadnagar, PM Modi's birthplace, celebrates his 75th birthday with a 15-day campaign featuring welfare activities and highlighting the town's rich history.
Vadnagar, a town with a population of around 40,000, is one of Gujarat’s oldest settlements, with evidence of continuous habitation for over 2,500 years. In recent years, archaeological excavations have revealed remains from the Mauryan and Buddhist periods. The town hosts the Vadnagar Archaeological Experiential Museum, a civil hospital, schools and colleges.
It is also the birthplace of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the narrow lanes of Ghanchi Pol at Lala Levani Sheri, where Modi spent his early years, memories of the PM remain alive. Sakriba Patel, 97, who lives next to what was once the Modi family home, recalled Modi’s late mother, Hiraben.
The original house no longer exists, leaving a vacant plot where some vegetation has grown due to the monsoon. “Hiraba used to help her husband. Many times, she would leave the little child Narendra with me. He was very playful. He must have been hardly five then,” she said. She remembers that Modi was close to her nephew Chandubhai and after his son’s wedding in Gandhinagar, he visited him when he was the CM.
The Union government’s Prerna School initiative has restored the building where Modi received his primary education. Under this programme, students from across India visit the school to engage in experiential learning and connect with the PM’s early life and the town’s heritage. A blood donation drive, puja at the Hatkeshwar temple, an eye donation camp and a sukhadi cutting have been planned to celebrate Modi’s birthday by the local Bharatiya Janata Party unit. Sukhadi, a traditional sweet made with wheat flour, ghee and jaggery, will be distributed among locals in place of a birthday cake.
For Vadnagar residents, Modi’s rise continues to be a matter of pride. Narsinhbhai Prajapati, a 59-year-old electrician who lives in the same lane, linked Vadnagar’s history to Modi’s rise.
Modi’s birthdays have often been used by the party to reinforce its image of service and connect with citizens through welfare activities. Nagjibhai Desai, 75, an ayurveda doctor and former president of Vadnagar Nagarpalika, said he studied with Modi from Class 1 to Class 11. “We at times shared the same bench. During our school days, he played the lead role in a play titled Jogidas Thumar and I played the side role. We used to go around selling tickets for the show,” he said.
After Modi left Vadnagar and moved to Ahmedabad, the two did not meet for 35 years. “I met him after he became the chief minister. He invited his school friends and teachers for a meal and told us specifically that no one should approach him for personal work, but assured that he was always ready to help if it was for public welfare. I would go and meet him without appointment,” Desai said.
Vadnagar’s historical importance has also come into focus. The Archaeological Survey of India has excavated around 54 water bodies within a 10km radius in Vadnagar that could have helped the town’s inhabitants survive during the time when paleoclimate studies have shown weather was not conducive with marginal rainfall and mass drought across the country. Vadnagar, where excavations have been going on since 2014-15, is one of the few towns from that era to have survived, findings from the site have shown. Since excavations began, Buddhist settlements, evidence of a thriving township and coins have been found
Vasundhara Thakor, 34, who is preparing for government examinations, hailed development projects in the town. “In the last few years, Vadnagar has seen significant development. A civil hospital has been built, a new museum has come up, solar panels have been installed, and the town’s roads and infrastructure have improved,” she said.
Uttam Thakor, a Class 10 student of BN High School where Modi studied from Class 8 to Class 11, said, “I am also an NCC cadet like Modiji, and that makes me proud.”
Viral Modi, 52, a rickshaw driver at the old railway station, said the PM has earned support through work and dedication. “He has made India proud globally. Now other countries are taking our advice,” he said.
The tea stall near the station where Modi worked still exists, though it is now covered.
Kamleshkumar Patel, 71, a former corporator who runs his family’s 90-year-old tea stall called Anand Bhuvan – Bhagat Ni Hotel, said he was five years younger than Modi in school but remembered that the future PM was good at studies. “Vadnagar has progressed due to Modi’s efforts and the whole country has seen progress under his leadership. When you grow a mango tree, the fruits are often eaten by the next generation — many of Modi’s initiatives will show results in the years to come,” he said.
Bhavesh Patel, 35, a party worker with the Vadnagar city BJP unit, said he joined the party five years ago, inspired by Modi. “When he was chief minister, I was in school. Be it Operation Sindoor, surgical strikes, making India the fourth largest economy, the abolishment of Article 370, or promoting self-reliance, especially in defence, his list of achievements as PM is very long,” he said.
As preparations continue for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 75th birthday on September 17, including a major blood donation drive at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, his hometown Vadnagar in Mehsana district has become a focal point of the celebrations. The Bharatiya Janata Party will hold a 15-day celebration from September 17 to October 2 , beginning on the Prime Minister’s birthday and concluding on Gandhi Jayanti. The campaign will include blood donation camps, cleanliness drives, health check-ups, exhibitions and welfare activities across the country.
