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Mumbai, Oct 24 (IANS) The Durbar Hall of Raj Bhavan was glittering beneath its chandeliers on Friday evening as the ‘Modi Mission’ book was formally unveiled and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was the first to react on the book in front of the media.
“Barjis Desai has achieved something extraordinary,” he said in a steady and thoughtful voice.
“In this launch, we are not just looking at a book, but the distillation of a life lived under constant scrutiny – yet one that, page by page, exposes the personal steel beneath. From a boy’s childhood in Vadnagar to the leader now guiding the world’s largest democracy, every chapter is rooted in evidence, not anecdotes. And then comes that catchy line: The 20th century took Gandhi’s name around the world; 21st, Desai silently insists, I will take Modi.”
Milind Deora, who wrote the introduction, said, “I have known Barzis for years,” he said, threading his words with warmth.
“Being asked to write even a modest introduction felt like handing over a small torch in a grand relay. My only prayer: Translate this book into every language spoken by our children. Let the youngest of this country read how the discipline of one man became the momentum of a nation.”
Lawyer, columnist, historian of power Barjis Desai said on the occasion, “I told him in 2001, ‘You will become Prime Minister one day.’ He didn’t say anything, just handed me a cup of tea and went back to work. That silence, I now understand, was the voice of destiny which was accepted without any fanfare.”
He traced the arch; Gujarat of 2001, where Congress salons ridiculed ‘provincial upliftment’; the Delhi of 2014, where the drawing room elite packed imaginary suitcases rather than face a Modi victory; Today’s India, where the stream of welfare flows equally in Salma and Radha, where Article 370 is history, where UPI resonates in village chaupalas, where the construction of the temple in Ayodhya is not seen as politics but as a civilizational end.
Desai concludes with the image that sticks with us the longest, a mother in Vadnagar, her palms rough from years of washing utensils for others, telling her son that service is the only legacy worth holding on to. Monk, soldier, preacher – three roads separated in a narrow alley.
He chose the one who ultimately carried his quiet sanskar in his breast pocket to the South Block.
–IANS
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