While Prime Minister Narendra Modi marks his 75th birthday today with BJP-arranged celebrations across India, all eyes turn to the tale of his long-time mentor, Lakshmanrao Inamdar, fondly referred to as ‘Vakil Saheb.’ It was Inamdar who initially introduced the young Modi to the portals of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), driving him down a road that took him from a humble tea stall owner to the country’s top job.
The Roommates Of Hedgewar Bhavan
The saga of their friendship goes back to the Hedgewar Bhavan in Ahmedabad, the RSS headquarters where Modi had stayed as a Pracharak (full-time worker). Modi occupied room number 3 on the ground floor, while just across the corridor in room number 1 stayed Inamdar, a highly respected member of Gujarat’s RSS community whom Modi revered deeply.
Following an in-depth report by Sandeep Unnithan in India Today magazine’s May 19, 2014 edition, Inamdar, who was born in 1917, was trained as a lawyer and entered the RSS in 1943. He remained a celibate Pracharak for his entire life, famous for his persuasive oratory skills and austere lifestyle.
Modi initially encountered his future guru as a boy in the early 1960s. Inamdar, who moved from town to town in an effort to persuade young people to become members of the Sangh, spoke at a meeting in Vadnagar. His able Gujarati orations charmed the boy Modi. Years after leaving home and working at his uncle’s tea stall in Ahmedabad, Modi encountered Inamdar once again at the RSS office.
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, writing his 2013 biography “The Man, The Times,” observed, “I have not seen such deep reverence in Modi for any other person, living or dead.” At Inamdar’s behest, Modi started from the very bottom of the Sangh’s ladder. For twelve months, he lived a Spartan existence, waking up early to prepare tea for other Pracharaks, sweeping the whole building, and even washing his guru’s clothes.
A Mentor That Advocated For Education
Inamdar recognised the potential of his young protégé and officially appointed Modi an RSS Pracharak in 1972. As a father figure, he also persuaded Modi to pursue higher studies, saying, “Narendrabhai, God has given you many qualities; why don’t you study further?” Inamdar sent him study material for a BA in political science from Delhi University, a course Modi finished in 1973. Andy Marino, author of “Narendra Modi: A Political Biography,” characterised Inamdar as “the real father of the Sangh in Gujarat.”
A Fatal Trip To The PM’s Residence
In a hitherto lesser-known account, Modi entered the then 7 Race Course Road—the PM’s house—not in 2014, but in 2001. He was then the BJP’s national general secretary in Delhi, and he had gone to have a book written by him on his guru, Lakshmanrao Inamdar, launched by then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Thirteen years later, that very house became his official residence.
In a previous interview with Aaj Tak, PM Modi reminisced about his guru: “When I was serving the Sangh, there was a man named Lakshmanrao Inamdar. I used to feel like telling him everything, and I would tell him all my thoughts.”
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