‘My gratitude to people of India’: PM Narendra Modi recalls his 2001 Gujarat CM oath in nostalgic post on X

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 7 October, recalled the moment when he took the oath of office as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for the first time, twenty-five years ago in 2001.

PM Narendra Modi, in a series of posts on X, expressed gratitude to the people of the nation as he marked 25 years of service to the country.

“On this day in 2001, I took oath as Gujarat’s chief minister for the first time. Thanks to the continuous blessings of my fellow Indians, I am entering my 25th year of serving as the head of a Government,” PM Modi said in the post accompanied by pictures.

Born as Narendra Damodardas Modi on 17 September 1950 in the nondescript Mehsana town of Gujarat, he served as the state's CM for three consecutive terms (2001-14) and is now the Prime Minister for the third time since 2014.

“My gratitude to the people of India. Through all these years, it has been my constant endeavour to improve the lives of our people and contribute to the progress of this great nation that has nurtured us all,” the prime minister said.

PM Modi said it was in very testing circumstances when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) entrusted him with the responsibility of being Gujarat CM way back in 2001. “The state was suffering due to a massive earthquake in the same year. The preceding years had witnessed a super cyclone, successive droughts and political instability. Those challenges strengthened the resolve to serve people and rebuild Gujarat with renewed vigour and hope,” he said.

PM Modi also recalled his mother's advice after becoming the Chief Minister of Gujarat. “When I took oath as Chief Minister, I remember my Mother telling me - I do not have much understanding of your work but I only seek two things. First, you will always work for the poor and second, you will never take a bribe. I also told people that whatever I do will be with the best intent and will be inspired by a vision to serve the very last person in the queue,” he said.

Longest-serving chief minister of Gujarat

Modi was selected to be sworn in as Gujarat Chief Minister on 7 October 2001 after Keshubhai Patel, the then CM, stepped down in the wake of the earthquake in Gujarat. Modi went on to become the longest-serving chief minister of Gujarat before being chosen to head the BJP's campaign in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, making him a prime ministerial candidate.

In 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP won a landslide and Modi was sworn in as the 14th Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014.

Modi was sworn in as PM for the second time on 30 May 2019 after he led the BJP to another election victory. And on June 9, Modi was sworn in as PM for the record third consecutive term. Before him, only Jawaharlal Nehru had been PM for three straight terms.