How PM Modi's mother Heeraben inspired him

On September 17, 2025, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will turn 75. Modi, who was born in Gujarat’s Vadnagar, served as the chief minister of Gujarat before taking power at the Centre in 2014 in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Modi has previously written about how his mother, Heeraben, was a source of inspiration and strength throughout his life. Heeraben passed away in December 2022 at a hospital in Ahmedabad at the age of 100.

She lived with the prime minister’s younger brother, Pankaj, in Raysan village in Gandhinagar. Modi would often meet her during his visits to Gujarat and seek her blessings on his birthday or before important elections.

But how did Heeraben inspire Modi throughout her life? Let’s take a closer look.

‘Sacrifice and symbol of resilience’

In a blog written on his mother’s 100th birthday in June 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the sacrifices and contributions she made to better his life.

He recalled that he and his family grew up in a small mud-walled house in Vadnagar with a clay-tiled roof. She managed all the household chores herself and took on extra work, including washing utensils in other homes and spinning the charkha, to make ends meet.

“She would do everything from peeling cotton to spinning yarn. Even in this back-breaking work, her prime concern was ensuring that the cotton thorns didn’t prick us. Mother avoided depending on others or requesting others to do her work,” Modi wrote.

He said she demonstrated how to work hard and stood as a symbol of resilience.

“During the rains, our roof would leak, and the house would flood. Mother would place buckets and utensils below the leaks to collect the rainwater,” he added.

Inspiration for schemes

Heeraben was seemingly also the inspiration for some of Modi’s welfare schemes, many of which focus on underprivileged women and children.

In 2016, Modi launched the Ujjwala Yojana in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia, providing five crore below-poverty-line families with LPG connections. At the time, he recalled his mother’s difficulties while cooking food for the family.

“I have experienced all these situations in my childhood. The house where I was born was like a very small corridor. There was no window. There was only one door to enter. And my mother used to cook food by burning a wood stove. Sometimes there used to be so much smoke that we could not see her while she was serving food to us. We had such a childhood in which we used to eat food in smoke,” he said.

Those experiences, he explained, shaped his resolve to liberate poor mothers from such painful conditions.

Staying honest, working hard

Modi came to power at a time when public frustration with corruption in government was high. His reputation for honesty and being above board was central to his slogan: “Na Khaoonga, Na Khaane Doonga” (Will not take a bribe, nor allow others to take one).

He narrated how, when he was chosen as Gujarat chief minister in 2001, his mother told him: “I don’t understand your work in the government, but I want you to never accept a bribe.”

During every phone call, she reminded him of the need to serve the poor and the less fortunate. “Never do anything wrong or anything bad with anyone, and keep working for the poor,” Modi wrote.

On her 100th birthday, she advised him: “Kam karo buddhi thi, jivan jivo suddhi thi” (Work using your brain, and live life with purity). Modi has often said that his parents’ honesty and self-respect were their greatest qualities.

“Despite struggling with poverty and its accompanying challenges, my parents never left the path of honesty or compromised on their self-respect. They had only one mantra to overcome any challenge — hard work, constant hard work!” he wrote.

Cleanliness is godliness

Since becoming prime minister in 2014, Modi has relentlessly promoted the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. He has spoken about how his mother instilled in him the value of cleanliness and respect for those who worked in sanitation.

“I remember, whenever someone would come to clean the drain adjacent to our house in Vadnagar, Mother wouldn’t let them go without giving them tea. Our house became famous among safai karamcharis for tea after work,” he recalled.

She was also particular about neatness at home.

“Mother was extremely particular that the bed should be clean and properly laid out. She would not tolerate even a speck of dust. A slight crease meant that the bedsheet would be dusted and laid again. Even today, at this age, Mother expects that there should not be a single crease on her bed!” he wrote.

Being learned, staying humble

Modi has said his mother showed him that wisdom doesn’t require formal education.

When he once told her he wanted to publicly celebrate all his teachers, including her, she responded with humility:
“See, I am an ordinary person. I may have given birth to you, but you have been taught and brought up by the Almighty.”

Her thought process and farsightedness, he wrote, always surprised him.

He called her “an example of somebody who was learned without having any formal education.”

A simple lifestyle

Modi is known for living simply and eating frugally — values he attributed to his mother.

“I have never seen her wear any gold ornaments, and she has no interest either. Like earlier, she continues to lead an extremely simple lifestyle in her small room,” he wrote at the time.

Caring for others, respecting their choices

Heeraben also cared for others as if they were family. Modi remembered how she looked after a Muslim youth, Abbas, after his father died.

“One day my father had brought home his close friend’s son, Abbas, after the death of his father. He stayed with us and completed his studies. Mother was as affectionate and caring towards Abbas as she was for all of us siblings. Every year on Eid, she would prepare his favourite dishes,” Modi wrote.

Modi noted how his mother respected other people’s choices and never imposed her own wishes on them.

“In my own case especially, she respected my decisions, never created any hurdles, and encouraged me. Since childhood, she could feel that a different mindset grew inside me. I used to be slightly different compared to my brothers and sisters,” he wrote.

“She often had to make special efforts to accommodate the special needs of my distinct habits and unusual experiments. However, she never considered this a burden and never expressed any irritation.”

When Modi decided to leave home, his father was extremely upset. But his mother understood and immediately gave him her blessings, saying: “Do as your mind says.”

‘The story of India’s matrushakti’

Modi summed up his mother’s life thus:

“In my mother’s life story, I see the penance, sacrifice, and contribution of India’s matrushakti. Whenever I look at Mother and crores of women like her, I find there is nothing that is unachievable for Indian women.”

“Far beyond every tale of deprivation is the glorious story of a mother. Far above every struggle is the strong resolve of a mother.”