◗ Wishes pour in from across India on Modi’s birthday
◗ Other than eminent leaders, prominent personalities from various fields wished Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received birthday greetings from all quarters, including his political rivals, on Monday, who celebrated the day in his parliamentary constituency, Varanasi.
Mr Modi thanked them for their wishes in a series of tweets. He turned 68 on Monday. President Ramnath Kovind, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, BJP chef Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah were among the first to greet Modi.
“Birthday greetings to our Prime Minister @ narendramodi. Wish him a long life and many years of dedicated service to the people of the country,” Mr Kovind tweeted.
Former president Pranab Mukherjee hoped that the Prime Minister is blessed with a long, healthy and happy life and continue to serve the nation for many more years to come.
“Pranab Da, your wishes are always a source of strength for me. Thank you,” Mr Modi responded.
Bollywood personalities Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Akshay Kumar and Madhuri Dixit also wished the Prime Minister on Twitter.
Mr Naidu, who is in Malta, called up Mr Modi to greet him. DMK leader M. K. Stalin as well as Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, Bihar's Nitish Kumar and Odisha's Naveen Patnaik and Mr Modi's Cabinet colleagues, including Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, also extended their greetings.
Mr Shah hailed Mr Modi's leadership, saying India under him had become synonymous with development and he had infused energy into every section of society like never before.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted “Happy Birthday to our PM, Narendra Modi ji! Wishing him good health and happiness always.”