PM Modi turns 72: Sudarsan Pattnaik shares breathtaking sand art using 1,213 mud tea cups, netizens amazed

New Delhi, Sep 17: Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned 72 on Saturday. A well-known Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik extended his wishes by creating a sand sculpture of PM Modi at Puri beach in Odisha wishing him on his 72nd birthday.

Pattnaik has created a 5-ft high sand sculpture of PM Modi with the message 'Happy Birthday Modi Ji' by installing 1,213 mud tea cups. He used about five tonnes of sand for the sculpture.

In a post on Twitter, Pattnaik shared a picture of his sand art with the message,''Wishing Our Hon'ble Prime Minister @narendramodi ji on his birthday. May Mahaprabhu Jagannath bless him with long and healthy life to serve mother India. I've created a SandArt installation used 1,213 Mud Tea Cups on sand with message #HappyBirthdayModiJi at Puri beach , Odisha.''

Speaking about the same, Sudarshan told ANI, "We have used these mud tea glasses to show PM Modi's journey from a tea seller to Prime Minister of the country. Here, I convey my best wishes to PM through my art."

Born in Gujarat in 1950, Modi joined Hindutva organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at an early age and was later drafted into the BJP.

Made Gujarat chief minister in 2001, Modi has never suffered an electoral setback when votes were cast on his leadership, leading the BJP to power in the state for three consecutive terms and then at the Centre back to back in 2014 and 2019.

On his birthday, PM Modi will be releasing eight Cheetahs into the Kuno National Park today. The eight cheetahs - five females and three males - are being brought from Namibia as part of 'Project Cheetah', the world's first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project, officials said.