Narendra Modi At 74: Prime Minister’s Political Journey From ‘Apanu Gujarat’ To ‘Sabka Saath’ For Three Tenures

It was October 7, 2001. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asked Narendra Modi to take the oath as Gujarat’s Chief Minister (CM). Till that point, oath-taking used to be mostly attended by a select few, following which the CM would take over his role in the Chief Minister’s Office. After taking oath as the CM of Gujarat for the first time, Modi concluded his speech with a rousing chant of ‘Bharat Mata Ni Jai’. Dressed in a grey kurta, Modi stepped down from the podium and drove an open jeep into the crowd amid drums, bugles and chants of ‘Apanu Gujarat, Agavu Gujarat’ — setting a new political culture which took decades for others to understand and emulate.

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Modi, as Narendra Modi is commonly referred to by people at large, did not wake up one day and become the Prime Minister. Before September 13, 2013, when he was announced to be the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP-led Democratic Alliance (albeit upsetting many like his present ally Nitish Kumar), he carried a body of work as a Sangh Pracharak, Chief Minister.

As he turns 74 on Tuesday (September 17, 2024), his political legacy is that of a unique mix of administration of 50 years, as Prashant Kishore — his political strategist for the 2014 Lok Sabha election — recently pointed out.

Modi’s political journey, from a modest tea seller in Vadnagar, Gujarat, to becoming one of India’s most influential political figures, has been both transformative and enduring.

A look at the key milestones:

EARLY POLITICAL LIFE: Modi’s political journey began with his association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in his teenage years, which laid the ideological foundation. His early political activities were deeply rooted in the RSS’s philosophy of cultural nationalism.RISE IN BJP: Modi joined the BJP in the late 1980s, quickly rising through the ranks due to his organisational and impressive oratory skills. During the time he was the General Secretary of the BJP, the party saw him instrumental in its expansion across India. He played a pivotal role in BJP’s Ekta Yatra, whose final stop was Srinagar where on January 26, 1992, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi unfurled the national flag along with him — a rare sight in the militancy-dominated Kashmir.CHIEF MINISTER OF GUJARAT: Modi’s political stature significantly grew after becoming the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001, following the earthquake that devastated the state. A new CM, but his administration was credited with rapid reconstruction and economic development. Increasing the Sardar Sarovar Dam despite stiff protests, introducing the Gujarat model of development by starting business summits, topping India’s ease of doing business ranking among states by the World Bank, and making inaccessible Kutch the centre point of global tourism are some of his many feats that reflect his political journey and administrative experience that slowly pushed him to the national scene.PREPPING TO BE PM OF INDIA: Modi may have become the PM in 2014, but the efforts started a couple of years ago when he started addressing Gujarati crowds in Hindi — a language many Indians understand. On the 2013 Independence Day, he held a counter-I-Day speech with a facade of Red Fort to push his Prime Ministerial candidature which he would get very soon. His campaign was built on the promise of development, anti-corruption, and nationalistic pride, amid scams — 2G, Adarsh, CWG during the Congress-led UPA 2.MODI, THE PRIME MINISTER: It’s been 11 years that he is the Prime Minister of India. For the first two terms, Modi’s enigma brought the BJP enough seats to form the government without the need for any ally. What marks his tenure as the PM? Completing the long-awaited electoral promises of the BJP — Abrogation of Article 370 and 35A that unites Kashmir with mainland India, constructing and inaugurating a grand Ram Temple in the once disputed site of Ayodhya, criminalising triple talaq. Some of the major red letter days of Modi’s tenure are when GST was passed after years of deliberation, legislation giving women 33% reservation in Lok Sabha and assemblies was passed in a special session and the Waqf Bill which was already brought is being sent to a JPC. Now, sources suggest in its third term, the BJP-led NDA will bring One Nation, One Poll.

Narendra Modi’s political legacy is that of flirting with fire and coming out unhurt, mostly so. When he brought demonetisation, many thought he would lose state elections due to the problems people suffered. But Uttar Pradesh brought the BJP to power. One of his biggest political achievements is to blur foreign policy and domestic politics. He reaches out to the Indian diaspora, often in big events like Howdy Modi in the United States, which brings a sense of pride among many domestic voters. “Videsh me desh ka naam badhaya” is the common refrain. It only got further activated when India’s Chandrayaan 3 landed on the moon or India hosted the G20 in Delhi with big pomp and Modi being the centre of global attraction.

As he turns 74, Modi is setting his eyes on 2047, already.