From seva to spectacle: How Modi’s birthday became a political project

The elevation this year of the birthday celebrations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi mirrors how the BJP, the Indian state, political communication and publicity drives in the country have been completely metamorphosed under his watch over 12 years.

There was a fortnight-long Seva Pakhwada (Fortnight of Service) and a month-long Seva Sankalp Abhiyan (Campaign to Pledge Service) to mark the completion of 25 years of uninterrupted governance as CM and PM (on October 7), along with his 76th birthday.

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In fact, in the initial years of his power innings, Modi's birthday, September 17, used to be a day marked by modest festivities, interactions and events. Over the years, as demonstrated this year, it has been converted into a hyper-organised nationwide campaign involving expenditure of huge amounts of money and other resources. Especially from 2019 onwards, the entire party leadership and cadre have been mobilised for his virtual deification.

This underscores the complete personalisation of a party that was once collegial in its core identity. Additionally, the structure of the events planned for the day every year blurs the lines of separation between party, state and public funds.

Beyond a symptom of vanity

Most would conclude that the ostentatious and kitschy nature of the celebrations underscores a deeply rooted obsession with power, importance, sycophancy, or grandeur within his personality.

It, however, would be lazy to dismiss this year’s ongoing month-long blitzkrieg as only an inevitable symptom of vanity. Assessing the manner in which Modi’s birthday has been institutionalised over the years solely through the lens of individual ego would be missing the core political objective that Modi has steadily pursued after assuming office in 2014.

But, before analysing the primary political goal behind such laudatory extravaganza, it would be worthwhile recalling how Modi’s birthdays have been celebrated or marked from when he took the oath as Gujarat Chief Minister in 2001.

For 13 years till 2014, neither the Gujarat government nor the state BJP organised large-scale and state-wide political extravaganzas on his birthday. His day usually began with a family ritual, albeit politically and visually stage-managed — a visit to his mother, Heeraben Modi, to seek her blessings.

Birthday events remain low-key

Organising blood donation camps on birthdays of political leaders is a long-standing tradition in Indian politics. Consequently, the coterie Modi assembled from early days in office began organising blood-donation and tree-plantation drives, besides holding health check-up camps.

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During Modi's tenure in Gujarat, state-backed mega-events were not systematically scheduled around his birthday. Civic-activity related programmes, mentioned above, were organised by local party units with little or no state-level supervision.

The one-time exception was in 2011 — the year Modi launched the campaign which established that his eyes had shifted to the citadel of power in Delhi. This was the Sadbhavna Mission, kick-started by him on his birthday with a three-day fast in Ahmedabad aimed at ‘promoting’ peace, unity, and communal harmony across the state.

Government role in Sadbhavna Mission

The importance of this programme for Modi’s future plans was manifest in the Gujarat government’s participation, structure, and support for the mission. The state government provided all required administrative support, deployed necessary police forces, rolled out the state's transport services, besides tending to infrastructural necessities at the venue — the Gujarat University Convention Centre.

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After his first fast, Modi observed 36 subsequent one-day fasts across various districts over a five-month period, to enable memorisation of the mission's message at the grassroots level. District collectors and other local administrators were pressed into service for these day-long programmes.

Synergy between party cadre and state apparatus was accomplished during the Mission and provided the template for similar acts in future. As seen during the monumental celebrations this year, it is now impossible on such occasions to distinguish between party workers and government personnel.

Delhi innings

On becoming Prime Minister in 2014, Modi acted like a ‘responsible’ statesman and asked well-wishers and party workers to refrain from lavish celebrations. He posted on Twitter that his followers should “dedicate yourselves towards relief work in J&K (reeling under catastrophic floods then) through your time and resources.”

Modi specified that although Chinese President Xi Jinping would be in Gujarat on September 17, he looked forward to “extending a warm welcome to him but there will be no birthday celebrations.”

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Over his first tenure as Prime Minister, birthday celebrations remained low-key — driven by the party in conjunction with sanitation and health departments of governments. His birthday was billed as Seva Diwas (Day for Service), although quite often this was duplicated with Swachhata Abhiyan or cleanliness drives.

Celebrations on Modi’s birthday shifted gears with the BJP’s enhanced political victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. From a one-day affair, the festivities became a week-long affair nationally, especially in BJP-ruled states — Seva Saptah. Everywhere, plastic-free drives, blood donation, distribution of spectacles (in eye camps), tree planting and much more were part of the common narratives.

Celebrations with numerical targets

Modi’s birthdays in 2020 and 2021 were mega events — in the first year he turned 70 and on October 7 the next, completed twenty years in public office. Seva Saptah in 2020 revolved around the figure of 70 – seventy activities, for instance — distributing artificial limbs to 70 people per region, organizing 70 blood donation camps per state, planting 70,000 saplings and so on.

In 2021, the celebrations were extended for 20 days to match with the number of years Modi had held a public office. The focus was on establishing a world record (a Modi fascination) — 2.5 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses in a single-day under the Vaccine Seva programme.

Select party wings were additionally assigned numerical targets structured around the number 71: Kisan Morcha units across districts, felicitating 71 progressive farmers and 71 young agriculturalists; Mahila Morcha awarding 71 women Corona Warriors in every district; and OBC & SC Morchas distributing food packets, fruits, and essential supplies to 71 old-age homes and orphanages in every state and the like.

Additionally, over 5 crore postcards bearing Modi’s photograph and details of his ‘public service’ were posted by party workers directly to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Birthday campaign expands further

In another instance of party-government synergy, the BJP distributed 14 crore food ration bags printed with the Prime Minister's face under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.

Seva aur Samarpan photo exhibitions were mounted at all district headquarters with Modi’s picture in all ‘watershed’ Seva events.

From 2022 onwards and till 2025, Modi’s birthday evolved from being a week-long affair to a fortnight-long Seva Pakhwada, running from September 17 to October 2 (Gandhi Jayanti). It is difficult to state at this juncture if the month-long tamasha started in 2026, will be here to stay or will be rolled back from next year.

Branded birthdays

Public events around essentially private milestones in the lives of Indian leaders did not begin with Modi and will unfortunately not also end with him. Globally too, different leaders have used such occasions in their lives to advance political authority, keep the party in a state of readiness, and project power.

In history, birthdays of demagogues like Adolf Hitler (April 20) was orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels and the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda as one of the most prominent national spectacles in Nazi Germany. What began as an internal party event evolved into a mandatory state ritual designed to reinforce the personality cult of the Führer.

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However, within India, those who jump into the arena, drawing attention to Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday being referred as Children’s Day, need to also note that his birthday is just an observance and that too began after his death in 1964. When functions are held, these are civic in nature and centred on child welfare, education and sports, issues which reflect Nehru’s advocacy for children’s education and welfare.

Furthermore, Nehru was given the moniker of Chacha (uncle), a human and approachable image, as contrasted to Modi’s claim of being a non-biological being.

Indira Gandhi and Mayawati as comparisons

In the case of Indira Gandhi, a leader with whom Modi has been compared on several occasions, including by this writer, public fawning or lionisation were essentially instances of spontaneous sycophancy, as against systemic branding and promotion of the cult of Modi.

If Dev Kant Barooah’s statement, “India is Indira and Indira is India,” is quoted as example of extreme servility on part of Congress leaders of the 1970s, former Vice President, M Venkaiah Naidu said Modi was “God’s gift for India” and a “Messiah of the poor.”

In the years Mayawati was Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, her birthdays (January 15), were celebrated garishly with state backing. Birthday celebrations were openly projected as a display of Dalit political empowerment, financial muscle, and total control over her party.

In the case of Modi, it is solely to reiterate that he is the fundamental axis around which the party, government and its leaders revolve. In his speeches, he even refers to himself in the third person.

Modi at centre of party and state

Modi’s political vanity or megalomania gets mirrored in every facet of public life: from architectural constructions he has ordered at state expense; his attire (including the pinstripes with his name woven into the fabric); to the era which he claims to have kickstarted and which will transform the nation into Viksit Bharat.

His birthday celebrations enable party bosses to sanctify political mobilisation and image projection in the name of Seva. Because the political revelry is performed in the garb of service, it morally insulates extravaganza for personal projection.

Anyone who criticises the celebrations – opposition parties, civil society and media – is labelled as being against progress and development of the nation, and gets dubbed as ‘anti-national’.

Political mobilisation

Over the years, courtesy having the fortune and also a divisive political agenda, Modi has established electoral hegemony across elections, barring in 2024. Since 2014, especially during elections and for birthday celebrations, the BJP has often raised temporary architectural structures to act as ‘selfie points’ with a Modi cut-out as backdrop.

When coupled with the choreographed national-level, Utsav-like celebrations, it permits the projection of Modi as an unassailable leader.

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Importantly, the personalisation of the party and the state is at odds with the credo of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which has always placed greater emphasis on the sangathan (organisation) or collective leadership.

Importantly, at no point has the RSS celebrated any individual’s personal milestone. Instead, celebrations are linked to Hindu festivals like Vijay Dashami and individuals are called to offer Guru Dakshina.

RSS model differs

In contrast, Modi has ploughed the hegemony of the individual leader over the cooperative style of leadership. He has rarely joined and launched efforts to strengthen the party even though many would argue that the party gets automatically bolstered as he grows further.

The party, however, approaches his birthday celebrations like any other corporate enterprise. These events are all target-driven, and a figure-specific task is spelt out for everyone and every unit at various levels.

In 2014, after assuming office, Modi touted himself not as the country’s Pradhan Mantri, instead saying that he was Pradhan Sevak. It, however, remains a question whether, if after dedicating the Sardar Sarovar Dam in 2017 and administering a record number of COVID-19 vaccines, importantly on his birthday, Modi is performing seva or primarily shoring up the Modi cult.

(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas, or opinions in the articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal.)