MODI @ 75: ARCHITECT OF AMBITION

IN the sprawling scroll of India’s story, few figures have fused longevity with luminosity, persistence with power, endurance with epochal impact quite like Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

- PRABHU CHAWLA

From small town Vadnagar to New Delhi’s boulevards, he has traversed the arduous ascent from anonymity to authority. He has crafted not merely a career but a canon of charisma, conviction, and control. With RSS as his ideological parent and spiritually nourished by Bharat Mata, no other leader has realised Hindutva’s ideological dreams with such clarity.

Modi, the ideal son, has achieved in 10 years what earlier leaders could not achieve in generations—thereby reshaping India’s cultural and constitutional map. He consecrated the Ram Temple. The criminalisation of triple talaq was hailed as gender justice, but also showcased his government’s willingness to reform personal law in line with commitment. Curriculum reform infused textbooks with a sharper nationalist narrative, while the Kashi Vishwanath corridor in Varanasi and Mahakal redevelopment in Ujjain revived ancient sacred centres, blending religion with state-led modernisation. Modi has made faith and politics inseparable.

The PM has translated long-nurtured popular aspirations into tangible state policy. In doing so, he has not only reshaped the Indian State, but attempted to restore the grandeur of India’s civilisational identity once celebrated as ‘Sone ki chidiya’ (golden bird). He is the youngest PM after Rajiv Gandhi and, with over two decades of uninterrupted power—first as Gujarat’s longest-serving chief minister and then India’s PM for more than a decade—he ranks as the longest-serving PM after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

Unlike many of his predecessors, Modi has cultivated a larger-than-life persona: a leader of discipline, conviction, and extraordinary energy. His austere lifestyle, relentless work ethic, and mastery over communication have set him apart in an age of fleeting political reputations. Modi thrives on symbolism and spectacle, yet he also relies on the power of detail like numbers, targets, and deadlines to turn policy into performance.