The Bharatiya Janata Party marked its 34th meetings and interactive sessions of its prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi. In April 1980s when the BJP was carved out of the debris of the Janata Party, Modi was a Pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Though the post precludes a career in party politics, Modi already exhibited intentions of eventually settling into a political career. He displayed the desire to rising to highest positions of power.
Modi was several months short of turning 30 when the BJP was formed. He was nowhere near the spotlight in the meeting at Delhi where Atal Bihari Vajpayee was made its president and Advani along with Sikandar Bakht and Suraj Bhan made general secretaries. Many joined the party from outside the Jana Sangh fold and this included Jaswant Singh, Shanti Bhushan and Sikander Bhakt. Though young for the post, some months prior to this Modi was nominated as Vibhaag Pracharak in central Gujarat where he was incharge of RSS programmes in the predominantly rural districts of Vadodara, Panchmahal, Dahod, Anand and Kheda.
In the RSS’ pyramidal organisational structure, the Vibhaag is one tier below Sambhaag that is placed further one tier below the state or Praant unit. Essentially this meant that when the BJP was established, Modi was two levels below making a cut at the state leadership of the RSS. Though a junior apparatchik, he had patrons within RSS in high places and this was one the reasons behind his swift rise.
The other reason behind Modi’s growth was his ability to complete assigned tasks swiftly.
It was less than a decade that Modi became a Pracharak. In 1973, barely a year after admission into the Brotherhood, Modi was tasked a key role in organising the first Vishwa Hindu Parishad Sammelan in Sidhpur, Patan district. Modi had not joined RSS because of articulated political belief. He did so because he wanted a sense of belonging to a larger fraternity. Modi rejected his family mainly because he had been betrothed to a girl when young and did not wish to spend his life with her. Modi wandered for a few years in West Bengal, Himalayas and Gujarat but still found no mooring. This anchor came at the Hedg ewar Bhawan in Ahmedabad.
A few months after the VHP meet, the Navnirman Movement was launched in Gujarat. It became a forerunner of the nationwide JP Movement for Total Revolution. Modi played little role in this agitation in early 1974 – he was too junior for that. Moreover, the RSS did not have the level of penetration in the agitation it eventually gained in Bihar and elsewhere.
Yet Modi persistently assisted senior leaders – both personally and organisationally and this Foundation Day on Sunday with several campaign resulted in being given crucial responsibilities during Emergency.
After the midnight swoop in June 1975 when almost the entire anti-Congress political leadership was arrested by the Centre, Modi was among those directed to go underground.
While still evading arrest, he was asked to meet George Fernandes at one of the safe houses.
Modi made travel arrangements for the socialist trade unionist who found him an impressive young activist.
Modi was also given the task of preparing underground literature and ferrying it to Delhi in disguise. “Indian Press Gagged”, “Facts vs Indira’s Lies”, “Twenty Lies of Indira Gandhi”, “When Disobedience to Law is a Duty” and “A Decade of Economic Chaos” were some of the pamphlets Modi distributed.
After Emergency was lifted and Janata Party government was in office, he wrote a lengthy pamphlet in Gujarati – Apatkalme Gujarat — Gujarat During the Emergency that was translated into Hindi in 2013 to capitalise on the interest in Modi. Shortly after this, a key mentor, Dattopant Thengadi, who later established Swadeshi Jagran Manch, appointed Modi as a key researcher on the role of RSS during Emergency. The assignment in 1979 gave Modi the first chance to stay in Delhi for several months, walk through the corridors of power, interact with powerful leaders and stay in strategically important Keshav Kunj, RSS headquarter in Delhi. This enabled him to forge strategic political ties that enabled his further rise within RSS.
When Modi returned from the Indian capital, he left behind several associates, visibly impressed with his abilities. He had seen the capacity of political power and privately confessed to associates that he saw himself in a more direct political role for him. During this period Modi concluded that RSS was merely a transit camp for him. When the BJP was formed, no leader on stage that day knew that a fiercely ambitious young man lurked in rural Gujarat who would one day make them politically irrelevant. How this happened in less than three decades is another story however!