What was Narendra Modi doing on June 10?

“He goes through the streets of a big city with all its traffic, and his mind is as calm as if he were in a cave, where not a sound could reach him; and he is intensely working all the time”– Swami Vivekananda

So what exactly was Narendra Modi up to on the evening of June 10 after he tweeted that he would not be able to make it to the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting?

Ever since the BJP National Executive met in Goa and the events that followed, the entire nation has been glued to the television screen, following the story minute by minute as it unfolded. What began at the Marriot in Goa ended at Prithviraj Road in New Delhi. There were many active players in this plot but in the eye of the storm was Narendra Modi.

Controversy or being in the thick of news is not unusual for Modi, in fact controversy has followed him since day one in public office and the BJP National Executive in Goa was no different.

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 While Modi was the star of the show in Goa, once the frenzy shifted to New Delhi, much of the news broke in his absence. Being away from the beehive of activity, particularly when you have a major role to play in the events and have significant stakes in the outcome can give sleepless nights to some and fray nerves of some others.

Modi however, it appears, suffered neither as we learn of a little known aspect of his personality. The anecdote I want to share is that of a visitor who happened to have met Narendra Modi on the evening of June 10.

Appointments with Narendra Modi predictably come with a heightened sense of antincipation and the mood of this individual was no different that evening. The ‘only’ glitch? He was supposed to meet Modi at 7 pm, just about when the frenzy over Advani’s resignation and the efforts by the BJP top brass to convince him had hit a peak.

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As he made his way into the third floor of Swarnim Sankul 1, which houses the Chief Minister’s office, the visitor read a tweet by Narendra Modi in which had urged Advani ji to withdraw his resignation and not disappoint the lakhs of workers. Anxiety paved way to uncertainty when he saw Modi’s next tweet where he said he approved of any decision taken by the Parliamentary Board and finally, uncertainty paved way for disappointment when he read tweets of BJP leaders making their way for the meeting. However, the staff at the CMO gave him no indication that the meeting would not take place.

Finally at 7:15 pm he was signaled by the staff to proceed into the Chief Minister’s chamber for the meeting.

As he deposited his phone outside, he saw the same news on TV, making him wonder how long the meeting will last. But, he was pleasantly surprised when he entered the Chief Minister’s chamber. Modi stood up and greeted him with characteristic warmth. He appeared calm, cool and relaxed giving no indication of what was happening outside. The visitor noticed that there was no television on and neither was any aide of Modi’s present. Modi spoke to his visitor for an hour in a conversation that was uninterrupted barring a two-minute phone call, which too was cut short by Modi. There was no trace of tension or apprehension as to what was happening 900 kilometres away in the national capital as Modi remained absorbed in the conversation with the visitor. Needless to say, the visitor came out extremely satisfied after what was a productive hour of discussion with Modi.


Even as much of Delhi’s media and political circles were gripped by hysteria over the political events of the day here was Narendra Modi doing the unexpected, going about with his daily schedule and meeting visitors while having focused conversations. Now how cool is that?

This experience of that visitor to Modi’s office on the evening of June 10 reminded me of my own interaction with Modi some time back.

In that conversation Modi recalled events from the day when the 2002 Assembly Election results in Gujarat were to come out. He mentioned that even as the day unfolded with the usual hyperventilation in the media and the sense of anticipation within his own immediate political circles, he shut himself off completely. He had instructed his staff to disallow any visitors or incoming phone calls. The television was switched off as well while Narendra Modi spent the morning absorbed in some reading unmindful of how the ballot count was shaping up. As he was recalling the events of that morning of 2002, Narendra Modi mentioned that there was palpable anxiety in his office with a worried staff slipping in notes of queries pouring in if everything was okay. It was only around noon that Narendra Modi wrapped up his reading to pay attention to the results which had by then become clear!

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Eleven years on, it appears little has changed in Narendra Modi’s personality. If being calm and focused as a political storm blew over shows one side of Narendra Modi’s personality there is another side to Narendra Modi, of someone who doesn’t rest easy when most of us would like to slack off.
An anecdote that comes to mind is from the winter of 2012 when Gujarat went to polls.

As the voting ended on December 17, one would have expected Narendra Modi to sit back and relax and await the outcome. But there was Narendra Modi refusing to rest easy. On the eve of the election results, when lesser mortals would be biting their nails with anxiety, Narendra Modi made a trip to Mahatma Mandir to review preparations for the 2013 Vibrant Gujarat Summit. He did not stop there, he even chaired a meeting on the water situation in Saurashtra!

Some may call it over confidence over the electoral outcome but in reality it is a reflection of his workaholic personality, getting on with the task at hand, ever restless to get to the next challenge. Sitting idle doesn’t come easy to Narendra Modi evidently, as after addressing over 100 public meetings in what was a marathon campaign, Modi, far from taking a break, turned to work, treating it perhaps as the best way to unwind.

“A study in contrasts,” being cool when the going gets hot and getting hot with action when most would prefer to just ‘chill’ is perhaps what sets Modi apart from most other politicians, say those who have observed him closely over the years.

Coming back to that lucky visitor who was with Narendra Modi when the entire nation wanted to know what he was up to on Monday night. I got an email from him late evening yesterday with this quote from Swami Vivekananda as he attempted to put in perspective what he had witnessed from that hard to believe one hour he had spent in Narendra Modi’s office between 7:15 pm and 8:15 pm on June 10.

“The ideal man is he who, in the midst of the greatest silence and solitude, finds the intensest activity, and in the midst of intensest activity finds the silence and solitude of the desert. He has learned the secret of restraint, he has controlled himself. He goes through the streets of a big city with all its traffic, and his mind is as calm as if he were in a cave, where not a sound could reach him; and he is intensely working all the time. That is the ideal of Karma-Yoga, and if you have attained to that you have really learned the secret of work.”

One of the newspapers apparently remarked that Modi had cancelled his appointments for the day on Monday while he remained closeted in his office working the phone lines to Delhi.
The truth, as it appears, was something altogether different.