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As PM Modi turns 75 today, his political capital remains peerless
Narendra Modi is an ace up the BJP’s sleeve because, as a prime minister, he has carried forward an ability he honed as the chief minister—of keeping his ear to the ground and being a good listener. File pic/PTI
“His life has been lived among the common people—in villages, in poverty, in selfless service, and rising through the ranks where obstacles stood at every milestone. That life experience is unmatched, and the ability to navigate roadblocks is what makes him beyond the reach of challenge from any politician.” This is how a person who has worked closely with Narendra Modi once told me about the “Modi phenomenon or magic”.
As PM Modi turns 75 today, his political capital remains peerless. His party may be in for a tough state election, and it turns to one man to turn the tide or push it over the line—Narendra Modi. Countless BJP surveys have shown that the party makes big strides in an election once Modi hits the campaign trail in the final lap. Landmark elections—like the BJP’s first wins in Tripura in 2018, Odisha in 2024, or the historic back-to-back successes in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 and 2022—show the power of the “Modi factor”. I have witnessed, even in recent election campaigns on the ground, how party leaders vie for slotting PM Modi’s rallies in their constituencies, as it is seen as a sure-shot recipe for a win.
Narendra Modi is an ace up the BJP’s sleeve because, as a prime minister, he has carried forward an ability he honed as the chief minister—of keeping his ear to the ground and being a good listener. I remember a meeting with him a couple of years ago after being on a reporting tour to poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. He listened patiently to my experience from the ground and interjected only when I said that women in the state were happy about getting Rs 1,200 each in their accounts every month but also complained of the high LPG prices, saying a cylinder cost Rs 1,200 too. “Hum Daam Ghatyenge (we will lower the LPG price),” he told me. Within a month, the Centre announced a big cut in LPG prices.
Nirmala Sitharaman also narrated her experience recently of how PM Modi had been imploring her for long to work on a “GST cut” to give relief to the common man. His decision to extend Ayushman Bharat medical insurance benefits to everyone above 70—irrespective of income status—also stemmed from ground public feedback, a senior minister told me. PM Modi was alarmed on learning how senior citizens of the middle-class found it difficult to get or afford private medical insurance, and many did not want to strain the resources of their children for medical treatment. It was empathy with his contemporaries that surfaced, as the PM was also above 70, the senior minister told me.
But it is not just success or ground connection that makes PM Modi an enviable proposition. It is also his ability to bounce back from setbacks and knock down the barriers standing in his way. Be it the sustained campaign against him after the 2002 Gujarat riots in an effort to paint him as a “political untouchable” or a deliberate attempt to embroil him in legal troubles between 2012 and 2014 to stop Narendra Modi’s inevitable ascent to the Prime Minister’s chair. A former CBI chief, who is no more, once narrated to this reporter how he foiled the plans of some to falsely implicate Modi in a criminal case. Amit Shah, Narendra Modi’s closest aide, had told this channel how the CBI had told him he could be set free if he named Modi as the culprit. This kind of vicious opposition would have broken any man, but not Narendra Modi.
This toughness of character stems from his days with the RSS. That taught him to survive amidst tough odds and face insurmountable challenges. Do you know that Narendra Modi, as a 29-year-old RSS worker, spent over a month in flood-hit Morbi in Gujarat in 1979? He toiled then in the watery swathes of Morbi after it was ravaged by a flood caused by a dam breach. Modi spent over six weeks there, removing mud, carrying dead animals and decaying bodies, and performing funeral rites for families who had lost their loved ones. This was his first experience in a disaster-handling exercise.
The Emergency also honed Modi’s skills in negotiating a tough situation. Do you know that Narendra Modi, during the Emergency days, always stayed in a house with two or more exit routes and strategised till the last detail while organising clandestine meetings? Or that he disguised himself as a Sikh, a Swami ji, an incense stick vendor, and also a Pathan? Modi would travel in different disguises, portraying himself as a priest and in various other attire. One day, he came to the house of a Sangh worker in the guise of a Swamiji. He went so far as to meet fellow activists inside the jail in the same guise.
To avoid arrest during the Emergency days, Narendra Modi frequently adopted the disguise of a Sikh to continue his activities. His disguise was so convincing that even close acquaintances failed to recognise him. Modi’s name became prominent in police dossiers, and it posed a significant challenge for him to evade arrest. But he rose to the occasion. He even ensured the regular publication of anti-Emergency literature and took on the perilous responsibility of distributing it throughout Gujarat.
Such experiences would later prove invaluable when he became an administrator in the aftermath of the 2001 Kutch earthquake. He was again on the ground as the chief minister during the floods in Surat in 2006, and when he rushed to Kashmir as prime minister during the floods there in 2014. The Covid-19 crisis in 2020 and PM Modi’s move to go for made-in-India vaccines instead of imported ones potentially saved thousands of lives. PM Modi’s foreign policy has been the cynosure of all eyes, as even world leaders like Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and others have marvelled at his popularity in foreign lands.
At 75, and with 11 years as the PM, Modi is in no mood to rest. He is unstoppable and is gearing up for more action.
Aman Sharma, Executive Editor – National Affairs at CNN-News18, and Bureau Chief at News18 in Delhi, has over two decades of experience in covering the wide spectrum of politics and the Prime Minister’s Office….Read More
Aman Sharma, Executive Editor – National Affairs at CNN-News18, and Bureau Chief at News18 in Delhi, has over two decades of experience in covering the wide spectrum of politics and the Prime Minister’s Office…. Read More
September 17, 2025, 08:00 IST
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