Modi@75: From pracharak to Prime Minister, a life in politics and public service
The RSS pracharak mode in Modi is inseparable from his leadership, with the Sangh’s ethos of discipline, organisation and nationalism permeating his personage
As Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi celebrates his 75th birthday on Wednesday, his journey from a humble pracharak of the RSS to India’s most consequential and popular leader offers a profound insight into a life dedicated to siddhant (principles), sewa (service), samarpan (devotion), sangathan (organisation), sangharsh (struggle), and sushasan (good governance).
Modi’s journey began in a modest lower-middle-class family in Vadnagar, Gujarat. His early years as an RSS pracharak shaped his worldview instilling discipline, nationalism and sense of selfless service. As a pracharak, he travelled across India organising programmes and volunteers, living ascetically and participating in various movements including the anti-Emergency struggle, campaigns he would be destined to bring to their logical conclusion such as the removal of Articles 370 & 35A, and the building of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Transitioning from pracharak to politician, karyakarta Modi’s organisational acumen was remarkable when he, as the national general secretary of BJP, orchestrated campaigns that elevated the party’s national presence. As chief minister (CM) of Gujarat, he transformed the state post-2001 earthquake and made the BJP an unbeatable force in the state. Since then, the BJP hasn’t lost any election in Gujarat.
Growing up, Modi’s mother Heeraben was a cornerstone of his moral compass, instilling values of integrity and hard work and famously advising him, “Narendra, don’t ever take a bribe, never compromise on honesty”. Till date even the worst critics of PM Modi can’t fault him for two things – his blot-less career as a public servant where not a single allegation of corruption can be levelled against him, and his uncompromising work ethic. Even at 75, while his opponents often switch to vacation mode he sticks to a non-stop work plan.
The RSS pracharak mode in Modi is inseparable from his leadership. The Sangh’s ethos of discipline, organisation and nationalism permeates his personage, policies and governance. Coordinating thousands of workers in the 1990s during the Ekta Yatra to raise the tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar at the height of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, he pledged to turn the dream of “Ek Nishan, Ek Sanvidhan” into reality. He achieved that eventually by abrogating Article 370.
Karyakarta Modi’s embrace of technology in his pre-CM days was marked by the use of laptop and digital equipment and today technology has redefined his governance. In the 2000s as CM he adopted laptops for real-time project monitoring, a novelty then. Today, as PM, he leverages drones for monitoring projects, social media to connect directly with citizens and tech to deliver honest, transparent good governance. His Digital India initiative integrates 2,000 e-services, from Aadhaar to e-KYC reducing corruption. JAM trinity delivers social welfare to millions of poor people. The Cowin platform helped in administering 200 crore plus Covid vaccine doses seamlessly to the entire population in a very short period of time. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) handles 50% of global digital transactions by volume today. His push for semiconductors positions India as a tech hub.
As CM, Modi’s governance blueprint emphasised sushasan and vikas (development). It delivered 10% GDP growth, 100% village electrification and created industrial hubs in Gujarat. As PM, he scaled this nationally. Today Bharat is the world’s fastest growing large economy, we have risen from being in 11th place to 4th, boast of the lowest inflation rates, lowest NPAs, highest exports and Forex Reserves. GST and GST 2.0 have been introduced, the Citizenship Amendment Bill and Waqf Amendment Bill have been passed, and infrastructure spending hit ₹11 lakh crore in 2025. India is building roads, highways, airports, metro connectivity and industrial complexes at a speed never seen before. Social infrastructure is also being built with pucca houses for millions of poor people, besides ensuring taps, toilets, gas cylinders, Ayushman Bharat health cover, cheap loans and bank accounts for the poorest of the poor. Social justice has been a cornerstone of his governance and it has been most visible when 250 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 11 years by his efforts.
From Gujarat’s “Nari Gaurav” initiatives to the 2023 Women’s Reservation Bill, from building crores of toilets and delivering crores of tap connections to ensuring 33% reservation for women in seats in legislatures, and ensuring freedom for Muslim Women from instant triple talaq, PM Modi has championed women’s empowerment not as mere political tokenism but as a principle.
At the core of PM Modi’s personality is the pracharak’s urge to keep India First always and never family or personal interest. While families of municipality corporators and zilla parishad members to Opposition leaders have enriched themselves using their proximity to office, pracharak Narendra ensured his position isn’t used by any member of his family to make any gains. He ensured that national interest drives his policy always, not family or votebank interest: Surgical strikes in 2016, Balakot airstrike in 2019, and a new normal of ghar me ghus ke maarna via Operation Sindoor signifies his zero tolerance to terrorism. Gone are the days when terror strikes from Pakistan went ignored. Now Pakistan is made to pay a price.
At 75, however, the biggest achievement that can be credited to PM Modi is how he rescued Indian politics and democracy from the hands of a few privileged naamdar nepo kids. His third consecutive term in office, at a time of global instability, underlines how his policy reflects a new phenomenon of “pro incumbency”. He showed that delivery matters more than dynasty, performance more than parivar, and kamdaars are preferred over naamdars. That, perhaps, will be his single largest contribution to the cause of Indian democracy.
Shehzad Poonawalla is a national spokesperson of the BJP. The views expressed are personal
