Management Guru Narendra Modi

By Himanshu Shekhar

Mr. Narendra Modi is gifted with unprecedented management expertise. One may learn a lot from many of his traits and qualities, replicate them to attain greater heights in life. It wouldn't be wrong to consider this great personality as the new age Management Guru. This book reflects the management skills of Mr Modi in a simple and clear manner. Modi magic has already won the hearts of the common man in India and abroad. It inspired us to portray him as the epitome of management. It elucidates the qualities of Mr Modi that gives him an edge over other contemporary leaders of his age and era. Mr Narendra Modi is a natural leader and understands how to lead and manage the affairs efficiently. His success as a leader and emergence as management guru is what this book emphasises on.

Apart from describing Mr Modi's pivotal role as Chief Minister of Gujarat, this book also highlights his proficiency and eminence as the Prime Minister of the country. The motto is to help readers learn from the unparalleled management expertise of Modi and implement it in their life too. In every manner the journey of a little boy from Vadnagar and a humble family background and his phenomenal rise as the Prime Minister of India may truly motivate anyone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diamond Books
• Release date: Aug 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9788128828034

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Narendra Modi: A Brief Description

Narendra Damodardas Modi, the current Prime Minister of India was born on 17 September 1950 in Vadnagar, Mehsana district, in Bombay State (present-day Gujarat). He is the second of five children born to father Damodardas Mulchand and mother Heeraben Modi. Modi was fondly called ‘Nariya’ by his loved ones. His father ran a tea stall at the district railway station.

Recently a lot has been said and written about Modi’s personal life, especially about childhood. Certain unknown factors were brought into limelight. As a young boy of 15, Narendra Modi voluntarily offered service to the soldiers in alteration at the railway station during the Indo-Pak war in the mid 60s. He served tea to these soldiers and helped them relax. Modi also contributed fervently towards the relief campaign during the Gujarat flood in 1967.

Modi pursued his primary education from Maharaj Shree Bhagwatacharya Narayanacharya (B N) High School in Vadnagar. Although an average student, he was different from other classmates and had unique interests. His talent in oration and keen interest in debates was noted by teachers of the school. Modi also displayed a special preference for playing larger than life characters in theatre performances and won many awards for his acting skills.

During his young days, Modi was fascinated by sadhus and lives of ascetics. He even ran away from his home after completing his school education. He visited many places, including Ramkrishna Ashram of Belur in West Bengal. This is where he got influenced by the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. Finally, he reached Himalayas and stayed with yogic sadhus for months. After two years of wandering in Himalayas, he gave up ‘sanyas’ life and returned home. Today, as the Prime Minister of India, Modi talks about Swami Vivekananda and his valuable teachings. Upon his return from the Himalayas, Narendra Modi set up tea stalls at the State Transport Office in Ahmedabad with his elder brother.

Modi was involved with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood. In 1958, on the auspicious day of Diwali, Modi took oath as the ‘Bal Swayamsevak’ from the Pracharak of Gujarat, RSS, Laxmanrao Imandaar, popularly known as Vakeel Saheb. The people from RSS during those days were highly influenced by the fervour with which Modi used to work. His management skills had impressed seniors from the Sangh. Booking train reservations for RSS leaders was one of the prime responsibilities given to Modi at that point of time.

Upon attainment of 18 years of age, Heeraben arranged Modi’s marriage to Jashodaben Chimanlal. However, the marriage was never consummated. He went ahead to become RSS campaigner and resided at the headquarters in Ahmadabad. Modi actively contributed to day to day activities of the party such as the cleaning chores, preparing tea, and washing clothes of senior citizen members of the party.

Narendra Modi’s selfless love for his mother is apparent. This great man’s adoration for her keeps him grounded. Modi makes it a point to return home to seek her blessings as and when striding towards a fresh venture personally or in his political career. Post winning the elections of 2014, he was seen touching the feet of Heeraben publicly.

Modi used to travel with Shankar Singh Vaghela (former Chief Minister of Gujarat) on a scooter during his early days as the campaigner of RSS. Wagela used to ride the scooter as Modi wasn’t well versed with the art. It was during his RSS days that Modi started wearing short sleeved kurtas. He cut the sleeves short as he faced trouble washing clothes. This way, he had to wash little and the kurta occupied less space in his bag. Today, the entire world is gushing over the fashion sense of our Prime Minister. His signature outfit - the crisp short sleeved cotton kurta that Modi wears is a huge hit.

Unlike other member of RSS, Modi keeps a beard and trims it too. A lot has been said and written about Modi’s writing skills. He is a prolific writer and poet. He writes mostly in Gujarati language and has a number of poems, books, and articles published. Life, lessons on life, and Hindutva icons remains his favourite topics for writing. Most of the articles and poems are inspired by the teachings of Swami Vivekanda whom the leader idolises. Being a great follower of Swami Vivekanda, Modi christened one of his election campaigns as Vivekananda Yuva Vikas Yatra.

Modi is often talked about his ideal habits and lifestyle. He is a teetotaller who does not consume alcohol, does not smoke, and is a pure vegetarian. Additionally, he follows a disciplined life with only five hours of daily sleep and wakes up early at 5:30 am without fail. Preparation and presentation is something Modi emphasises on religiously. So special preparations are made for each speech that he renders and everything from clothes to the overall look for the day is planned well. Narendra Modi is fashion conscious and one would never see him look shabby in public. He hates looking shabby and this is the reason he looks chic and gracious in all his public events.

Modi had pursued a Master’s degree in Political Science. He started his political career with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a socio-cultural organization with committed to social and cultural development of India. This is where Modi imbibed the spirit of selflessness and other valuable virtues including social responsibility, perseverance, and nationalism. While serving in the RSS, Shri Narendra Modi played a number of significant roles on various occasions. During the traumatic 19-month long Emergency (June 1975 to January 1977), the leader wore disguise of a Sikh to avoid being arrested. For two long years, he remained successful in avoiding police attention.

Modi’s stint with politics started very early when he joined the pro-Hindu Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organization in the early 1970s as a ‘Bal Swayamsevak’. He also set up a tea stall near the RSS office. Upon establishing close acquaintances with the main leaders and members of RSS, he got a place within the organisation. Here, Modi took up all kinds of jobs from preparing tea to washing clothes, and sweeping floors. Thereafter, he worked for the organisation’s management wing and attained great success. Modi rose steadily in the RSS hierarchy. His close association with the organization benefited his subsequent political career. In the year 1987, Modi joined BJP, and a year later he was made the general secretary of the Gujarat branch of the party. He was given the responsibility for organising the Ekta Yatra in 1991 under the leadership of Murli Manohar Joshi, the then national secretary of BJP. This was the first big responsibility for Modi while working for the party. Thereafter, the workaholic and loyal party worker moved on to take up many new responsibilities of managing the party’s activities in other states including Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Jammu Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh only to strengthen his presence at a national level. Modi’s role was truly instrumental in reinforcing the party’s presence in the state during its succeeding years. He also travelled to several foreign countries during his party days.

In October 2001, Modi replaced the Gujarat Chief Minister, Keshubhai Patel. He was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Gujarat on 7th October, 2001. Thereafter, Modi continued to win the elections for years 2002, 2007, and 2012. As the head of the Gujarat government, Modi remained immensely successful in establishing an incredible reputation as a competent administrator. Under his leadership, the state experienced rapid growth of economy. The early years in Gujarat were tough. The state faces some harrowing natural calamities that devastated various areas of the state. Life came to a standstill and Modi had to work really hard to get things back to normal. However, Modi was determined to take the state to the path of exemplary success. Apart from making up for the losses incurred due to natural calamities, Modi also set an example by establishing models for steady and fast growth of economy in the state.

Many disagree with the progress model followed by Modi. They feel that the leader simply focussed on economical progress of the state. The issues related to social progress remained untouched.

The Modi government announced the ‘Panchmurat Scheme’ while working on relief and redevelopment programmes for earthquake affected areas of Bhuj in Gujarat. Under this scheme, Modi worked on all possible aspects to ensure redevelopment and progress of the state. This worked as an example for other states of India. Some of the measures taken by government include e-governance, investment, abolition of poverty, economy, energy, development of transport and building of roads, and wealth management.

Those who have studied and critically analysed the Gujarat development model have revealed that the strategy worked because Modi focussed on the progress of three different areas – agriculture, manufacturing, and services. The development mantra of Modi - ‘With everyone always, for everybody’s development’ has remained constant for all these years.

Scarcity of water had been a common problem in Gujarat. Modi realised this and made dedicated efforts to eradicate it from root level. Under Sujalam Sufalam Yojna, interlinking rivers redefined the excess rain water management in Gujarat. The surplus water overflowing from Kadana dams and Sardar Sarovar project diverted to northern Gujarat through Sujalam Sufalam Yojna came up as a boon to northern Gujarat earlier suffering from water scarcity. Unique ideas such as introduction of Soil Health Cards for farmers, Roaming Ration Cards and Roaming School Cards display his concern for common man of the state.

Modi’s illustrious spell as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for resonant development in the state was honoured by many prestigious awards. The state also emerged as investor’s favourite in all respects. Most national and international giants from the investment industry have termed it as their favourite investment destination. The Vibrant Gujarat scheme was initiated as an investors’ summit. Later on, it evolved into an idyllic platform for business revolution. The state ultimately evolved as a Global Business Hub. However, this didn’t come easy to the leader. He focussed on eradicating root problems the business infrastructure of the state faced. A lot of emphasis was given on tightening laws governing investment and business on both national and international