Modi's Mentors: Vasantbhai, the man who taught Modi his 'principles'

Editor’s note: Narendra Modi has revealed his inspirations in a work he wrote after he became chief minister in 2001. The book, written in Gujarati, is called Jyotipunj. In this chapter from his book of short biographies, being translated for the first time, Narendra Modi profiles Vasantrao Gajendragadkar, who was an RSS man attached to the Jana Sangh. Before he was 24, Modi was made the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Pracharak for Ahmedabad city. This was in the period leading up to Indira Gandhi’s Emergency, and the Navnirman agitation in Gujarat. Vasantrao Gajendragadkar was Modi’s mentor in these days.  Only a year later, and when he was about to go to the Rajya Sabha, Gajendragadkar died and Modi would arrange for his mentor’s funeral. How does one describe the ocean in words? A vast body of water? But then what is the meaning of vast? Vast is just that - vast. Without boundaries. Without seeing it and experiencing it, one cannot know the ocean. That’s how it is. The character of our Vasantbhai… Wise, proper, intellectual, entertaining was just like that. Not knowable without experiencing it. Many had met him and he may have stayed in the homes of many also, but my experience of him was different. In his most successful period, I stayed for a long time in his house. We knew him as ‘Raosaheb’. Nobody knows why he was called that, but we used the word with affection. Let’s go back to the 1971 elections. His name came up for a ticket during discussions in Ahmedabad. There was no reason for him to be denied it and with the intention of fighting the election, the Jan Sangh began preparations. Boards went up with the schedule of the Ahmedabad campaign. At the very last minute came a directive from Delhi - Vasantbhai shouldn’t contest. This deflated us excited workers. Many said: If not Vasantbhai, then nobody gets the ticket! Rather than sulk, Vasantbhai encouraged us to ensure the victory of the man who got the ticket, Shri Jaikrishnabhai. He enthused all the workers. To set aside personal ambition for the good of the nation - that is what he always preached and practised. That same election, in Dhanduka, Shri Shambhu Maharaj had the Jana Sangh ticket. Someone knowledgeable from the area came to meet Vasantbhai, in the name of a man more powerful than Shambhu Maharaj, who wanted the ticket. The nomination papers had not yet been filed. The man was a friend of Vasantbhai’s and was fit in every way. But Vasantbhai said no. [caption id=“attachment_1344085” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Narendra Modi, age 26, at funeral of mentor Vasantrao Gajendragadkar.[/caption] The messenger pressed his cause - what was wrong with Shambhu Maharaj sitting it out? Where had there ever been principles in politics? And so on. Vasantbhai said “I don’t know about others but this is the Jana Sangh. Our principles are all we have.” That man left, but was so impressed by these words that in a year he was one of the Sangh’s best workers. Later in the 1970s, the Navnirman movement was upon us. The Sangh’s had mounted so many bandhs (against the Congress government) that all Gujarat was agitated. Then a call came for a state-wide bandh that was suspicious and the Jana Sangh didn’t support it. It was felt that if certain forces took control of the movement it would be dangerous for Gujarat. This attitude from the Jana Sangh encouraged Chimanbhai Patel (the Congress chief minister). He said he wanted to meet Vasantbhai. This was arranged. Chimanbhai said what was on his mind: “Vasantbhai, if the Jana Sangh were to stay away from this bandh call, I can handle the others.” Vasantbhai replied clearly: “Whether or not the Jana Sangh supports this particular bandh, our struggle is based on basic principles. We don’t want cheap popularity, but we will not stay away from a movement whose origins are in the principles.” After this, the Jana Sangh leaders were jailed under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). Importance of principles: Vasantbhai’s focus was always on principles. He was a professor at the law college and the university would send him papers to examine. Today of course, students and parents regularly walk into the homes of those examining their papers. When a friend of Vasantbhai’s found out he was marking a paper of a relative, he approached him. The friend was so close to him that he wasn’t able to give a direct yes or no in the matter. But when the results came out the person had failed in the very paper that Vasantbhai had marked. An organisation’s success and growth depends to a large extent on the values and principles of its leaders. The success of the Jana Sangh in Gujarat may therefore be attributed to men like Vasantbhai. Emotional nature: Vasantbhai was an emotional man and liable to get upset. But the things that upset him were unusual. I met him when I was an ordinary Swayamsevak and there was a respectable distance between us. But in a short while, I began work as Pracharak for Ahmedabad. Vasantbhai had great respect for those who held the post. He liked meeting them and often invited them over. I didn’t do this because, as I said, I kept a respectable distance. Then we bumped into one another at a function. The moment namaskars were over, he erupted: “Oh yes, now you’re an honourable Pracharak, aren’t you! A big man! But I’m also a Swayamsevak, mind you. And if you don’t want to come to my place, please say so.” He said this and walked off. I went over that evening. He met me as if the earlier meeting hadn’t happened. He insisted I stay for dinner and we spoke till late into the night. After that he told me to dine with him every Thursday and we kept this tradition almost to the end. On June 5, 1973, Guruji (Golwalkar) passed away. Vasantbhai was away in Patan and he wasn’t informed about this. He found out from the news the next morning. He returned to Ahmedabad by 8 am. The others had taken flights to Bombay to travel on to Nagpur. Vasantbhai came to my room. He was utterly distraught - “Narendrabhai, you couldn’t even make a trunk call or send me a telegram?” He began to weep, such was his adoration of Guruji. I had mentioned the arrest under MISA of the Jana Sangh workers. In those days Vasantbhai was working on the book ‘Shri Guruji’ being published by Sadhana Pustak Prakashan. If he went to jail, the book would be delayed. And so he went underground. I had to keep him informed about the status of the agitation, which was then at its peak. There was gunfire all around making martyrs of heroes. All Gujarat was under curfew. He was anxious to get the latest news all the time and in this difficult period he completed the work on the book. As a family man, Vasantbhai was full of mischief. When he married his wife Vidyabhabhi did not take tea. Vasantbhai wanted that she would and put her on notice that within a month she would have to start. He married on 9 February and was able to get her to take tea by 9 March! How did he manage this? He and his nephew Vinod would begin to chant every morning in Marathi: “Vidyakaki nau Marchla kai karnaar? Chaha peenaar… Chaha peenaar!” (What will Aunt Vidya do on the ninth of March? Take tea take tea!) This was a daily affair. She finally took a saucerful, but didn’t take another sip after that. Vasantbhai was fine with this. Vasantbhai was diabetic but fond of eating. As I have told you, on Thursdays I would have dinner with him. Four or five Thursdays in a year, he would tell Vidyabhabhi it was my birthday and she ought to make some sweets. He was naughty and fun-loving. He would always run out fully clothed in the first rains. The last such rain-bath of his life we had together. He took my out and we sat in Parimal Garden, opposite his house. It rained for two hours and we were drenched. That was his last monsoon. His life was short, but meaningful. His success could be attributed to three things - “Clarity of thought, faith in conviction and character to act” (Modi has used these words in English). His last days were full of work, given the state of the country leading up to the Emergency. On the night of 6 February 1976, we saw Vasantbhai off in the Gujarat Mail. He was then almost certain to get elected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. I laughingly said to him: “We were about to send you north to Delhi, but here you are off to the south and Mumbai. You seem to be going in reverse!” These were my last words to him. On 9 February, he was admitted to Bombay Hospital. On the 12th he learnt of the collapse of the Morcha government in Gujarat. He wished he was in Gandhinagar. “I’m needed to take responsibility and here I am in bed,” he would mumble. His health deteriorated. On the 16th at 6:40 in the evening, he died. I was the unfortunate person to receive news of this on the phone. That I would have to shoulder the bier of he who had shouldered so much through his life I had not imagined. His body was brought to Ahmedabad on the 17th. When it was brought out of the ambulance the gathered Swayamsevaks had two responsibilities. They had to shoulder him and also carry forward his work. They looked crushed under these burdens. His body, eyes half-open, was put in the front room of his house. The laughter had left that room. The wall in front had a photograph of his mother, so proud of such a virtuous son. There were two other portraits - those of Dr Hedgewar and respected Guruji. Vasantbhai’s half-open eyes were trained here. “I’ve left your work half done” they seemed to say “I hope you aren’t saddened by my leaving”. At last, Vidyabhabhi approached her husband. The mangalsutra she had got 20 years ago, she took off with trembling hands and returned to him. At 2:30, from the Khadia Jana Sangh office, his funeral procession began. Suffice it to say that even big leaders rarely get such a send-off. That night, I wrote in my diary: “Dosti ka jaam peene se pehle hi toot gaya! Suraj shaam se pehle hi dhal gaya!” (The cup of friendship broke before we could sip, and the sun is gone before evening’s onset)