Vice President Venkaiah Naidu turns 72 today: All About This Political Stalwart and People's Leader

The Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu, a leader who is the epitome of Telugu eloquence. Venkaiah Naidu needs no introduction to the political fraternity of the country. He is the man who has worked and impressed in many capacities in his long political career. Whenever there is a crisis in any corner of the country, he is a genius who can solve the problem in his own style being a troubleshooter. Moreover, he is a pride of Telugu people as he is now holding the post of Vice President, one of the highest positions in the country.

Venkaiah Naidu was born on July 1, 1949 to Rangaish Naidu and Ramanamma in Chavatapalem, Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh. After his primary education, Venkaiah obtained his BA degree in Political Science from VR College, Nellore and then completed his BL from Andhra University in Visakhapatnam and received his law degree. Born into a farming family, Venkaiah Naidu was fascinated by politics from his student days and has volunteered for RSS since childhood. With this, he became accustomed to a life of discipline and moral values.

He joined ABVP as a college student and worked actively. In addition to VR College, he also served as the President of the Students' Union at Andhra University and played an active role in the Jai Andhra movement in 1972. He started movements in Vijayawada and Nellore and came to light at once with his eloquence. The election of ABVP President on behalf of Andhra Law College was a turning point in Venkaiah's life. In 1972, Venkaiah actively participated in the Jai Andhra movement.

He participated in the agitation during the Emergency during the Indira Gandhi regime in 1977 and went to jail too. He contested from Udayagiri in the 1978 general election and was elected to the Assembly. At that time, there was an atmosphere of Indira Gandhi all over the country, but Venkaiah won and stepped into the AP Assembly for the first time. From 1980 to 1983 he served as the Vice President of the BJP All India Youth Union.

In the 1983 elections, the TDP swept the elections all over the state. However, in Udayagiri, Venkaiah Naidu won. Venkaiah, who won for the second time as an MLA, became the biggest BJP candidate in Andhra Pradesh. After that he entered national politics. He served as the BJP national spokesperson from 1996 to 2000 and elected to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka in 1998. He has served as a member and president of several parliamentary boards.

He served as the Minister of Rural Development during the Vajpayee regime from September 2000 to June 2002. He was elected BJP national president in July 2002 and remained in office until the end of 2004. He later became a Rajya Sabha MP in 2004 and 2010 respectively. The party has now become bigger in the southern states with all his support. Apart from Telugu, Venkaiah Naidu's good command of English and Hindi helped him to climb higher peaks in politics.

In 2014, he served as the Minister of Communications and Urban Development in the Modi Cabinet before becoming the vice president of India.