This is the chronicle of an upcoming journalist and a young political organiser taking on responsibility.
It was 1987. Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister and the Congress dominated national politics, while the BJP remained a fledgling force.
At the start of 1987, my chief reporter at The Indian Express, Ahmedabad, veteran journalist Kiritbhai Bhatt, wanted to meet the appointed Gujarat state organisation secretary Narendra Modi.
We went to the BJP’s Khanpur office. A 30-minute conversation impressed us. Kiritbhai, my idol for value-based journalism, said: “Modi will go places. He is a focused, intelligent and empathetic with a good grasp of social as well as political issues.”
By the late 1987, the mood changed. The Bofors controversy had damaged Gandhi, while the Amarsinh Chaudhary government in Gujarat faced factionalism, caste politics and public disenchantment.
Gujarat was struck by its worst drought in many years. Two crore livestock were affected. Relief works were meant to employ about 12 lakh labourers, but payments were delayed or sometimes never made.
The beleaguered Gandhi government had sanctioned around Rs 65 crore for relief, but questions arose over whether this aid reached remote villages.
Modi then came up with the Nyay Yatra, illustrating commitment to Seva. Its humanity-first, Seva-first approach had three principles: Verification—checking whether workers received wages and facilities promised in government guidelines and recording failures; Awareness—informing labourers, farmers and tribal communities of their rights and government obligations, enabling them to claim their dues; and Justice—compiling evidence of corruption and presenting it to state authorities for redress.
The Yatra had four Raths, each a jeep with an old-style hood and curtains serving as a moving stage. A Modi innovation, born of frugality when the BJP’s Gujarat unit could not afford mini-trucks, the 40-day Yatra was led by Keshubhai Patel, Shankersinh Vaghela, Sureshbhai Mehta and Kashiram Rana/Makrand Desai. It started on Ambedkar Punya Tithi, December 6, and concluded on January 12, 1988, on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
The term “Yatra”, coined by Modi, was entering the political lexicon and would become a political and social messaging tool, as with L K Advani’s 1990 Somnath-Ayodhya Yatra. The term means pilgrimage, giving it a sacred connotation.
The raths visited relief sites where 500–1,000 people gathered. Leaders read out people’s rights in the famine—free water, shaded shelter for children and essentials—creating an anti-Congress environment and garnering public sympathy. It delivered relief directly: workers distributed sukhdi, a long-lasting sweet of jaggery, wheat flour and ghee, groundnuts, channa and gud, so labourers doing hard physical work did not go hungry.
The Yatra struck an instant connect. I covered many meetings; people in rural and tribal areas connected greatly with it. The pattern emerged: wages were withheld or reduced before reaching workers. BJP members systematically recorded complaints; labourers kept signed or thumb-printed wage records; village sarpanches gave written statements on underpayment. Findings on government failure were amplified through press meets. Workers asserted their rights, questioning contractors and officials about wages. The Amarsinh government was pushed to act and extend relief.
The Yatra gave the BJP a rural base. Seen mainly as an urban middle-class party, it gradually built support among labourers, farmers and tribal communities and brought new workers into the party. Most importantly, Modi’s Seva-based model created an emotional bond with people. No wonder the BJP has never lost a Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha election since 1989.
Thus, the Nyay Yatra was a blueprint of Modi’s political-cum-social thinking: serving people through political life, ensuring government benefits reached beneficiaries in full and removing middlemen who diverted public money. It has remained integral to him for 25 years. It shows why Modi succeeded… because nothing connects more than Seva.
The views expressed are personal
UDAY MAHURKAR
Former Information Commissioner