List of nicknames of the prime ministers of India

This is a list of nicknames of prime ministers of India that were or are in common usage.

Jawaharlal Nehru[]

Full name: Jawaharlal Nehru

• Pandit, for his Kashmiri Pandit ancestry.^[1]
• Chacha (Hindi: Uncle), as he was better known among children.^[1]

Lal Bahadur Shastri[]

Full name: Lal Bahadur Shastri

• Man of Peace ^[2][3][4]
• Nanhe (Hindi: Little One) was his childhood nickname.^[5]

Indira Gandhi[]

Full name: Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi

• Priyadarshini, (Sanskrit: dear to the sight), was not only her nickname but her official middle name.^[6][7]
• Mother India, a biographical book written on her by Pranay Gupte.^[8]
• Iron Lady of India, to iterate her gutsy matriarchal charisma.^[9]
• Durga, a nickname that is rumoured to be given to her by Atal Bihari Vajpayee after she won the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He although strongly refused having called her so.^[10]

Atal Bihari Vajpayee[]

Full name: Atal Bihari Vajpayee

• Ajatashatru (Sanskrit: having no enemy), for having a perpetual good-man aura and no enemies even from the opposing sides.^[11][12][13]
• Bhishma Pitamaha, a nickname that is given to him by erstwhile Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.^[14]

H. D. Deve Gowda[]

Full name: Haradanahalli Doddegowda Deve Gowda

• Mannina Maga (Kannada: Son of the Soil), for iterating that he is down-to-earth and cares for the poor.^[15]
• Dodda Gowdaru (Kannada: Senior Gowda), for disambiguating him from his children or anybody else with the Gowda title.

Narendra Modi[]

Full name: Narendra Damodardas Modi

• NaMo, a portmanteau derived from his first and last names.^[16]
• Modiji, a heavily used colloquial term to refer to him.^[17][18][19]
• Chaiwala, (Hindi: Tea-seller), a nickname that was popular among his supporters during 2014 Indian general election.
• Chowkidar, (Hindi: Gatekeeper or Watchman or effectively a Protector), a self-styled nickname that was popular among his supporters during 2019 Indian general election.

References[]