New Delhi: Narendra Modi is not merely prime minister, he is also “an idea” and “a spiritual force” who came to earth from a “divine order”, Maharashtra governor Acharya Devvrat proclaimed on Friday (October 24).

Speaking at the launch of lawyer Berjis Desai's book Modi's Mission in Mumbai alongside Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde and the author himself, Devvrat said that the decisions Modi has taken in his life cannot be replicated by ordinary people and implied that he was sent to earth by a divine order “with the power to make the impossible possible”.

Invoking verses from the Bhagavad Gita, Devvrat said: “Where there is the need for a great man to bring change to a society, such people come there from a divine order … When such people come from a divine order, they carry the power to make the impossible possible. The decisions that Modi ji took in his life cannot be made by ordinary people.”

Citing the reading down of Article 370 – in ‘one fell swoop’ and in such a manner that “even a bird did not move its wing” – as well as the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the governor said these decisions were made by a “great man” with “great will power”.

“There is a divine order behind this; the life of a person without self-interest, which has only altruism and the spirit of public welfare,” Devvrat said. “Such a person whose arrival on this earth every individual should be proud of.”

Incidentally the prime minister had also said during the 2024 general election campaign that although he believed while his mother was alive that he was “born biologically”, after she passed away he became “convinced that God has sent me”.

“This energy could not be from my biological body, but was bestowed upon me by God. I believe God has given me abilities, inspiration and good intentions for a purpose … I am nothing but an instrument,” he had said upon being asked ‘why he never tires’.

On Friday, Devvrat also repeated the claim made by senior BJP officials – which the external affairs ministry had precluded – that Modi halted the Russia-Ukraine war to allow for the evacuation of Indian nationals, and praised the prime minister's ‘standing up to Trump’ in the face of the president's punitive tariffs for India's purchases of Russian oil.

“Modi ji is not just the prime minister of India. He is an idea. He is a spiritual force. He is our inspiration. He is the honour of this country. He is the prestige of this country. He is the pride of the young generation. Such personalities come from a divine order; you and I cannot accomplish this much even with great effort,” said Devvrat.

Shinde, speaking before Devvrat, also suggested that Modi was more than just PM. “Modi ji's name is our present and it is our future too,” the deputy chief minister said, adding later that a “synonym of hard work is Modi”.

Desai too hailed the prime minister for his “spellbinding charisma which appears to transcend the mere human”.

For the last 24 years – beginning from when he became chief minister of Gujarat – Modi “has been a relentless 24×7, 365 non-stop working machine whose average day extends to 16 hours, with sleep for only four and a half. Have you ever heard of any other human being in the world who does this?” asked the author of Modi's Mission.

“As Viksit Bharat becomes a superpower 100 years after independence,” Desai said towards the end of his address, “the nation will gratefully remember the Mahatma for 1947 and Modi for 2047,” eliciting applause.

“In the decades to come, history will dispassionately conclude that there is an uncanny similarity between the life work of the Mahatma and Narendra Modi … The first and last sentence of my book reads: ‘Fifty years later, Modi and Gandhi will be mentioned in the same breath and in the same order’.”

While writing the book – which per its publisher's website presents Modi as “the instrument of a national awakening” – Desai said he “discovered the extent of the energy and prejudice harboured by a section of the intellectual elite against a son of the soil like Narendra Modi”.

The “Western media” and “Left-leaning historians” have joined this section to “constantly [try] to undermine his life work”.

The lawyer also said that Hindutva “not as a religion” but “as a civilisational and cultural way of life is what cements our nation”.

Shinde suggested that the government ought to introduce parts of Desai's book in schools, saying the young generation “will get inspiration and energy from Modi ji's work”.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.