Sardar Narendra 'Singh' Modi: When PM disguised as a Sikh to escape arrest

On the 43rd anniversary of Emergency which then prime minister Indira Gandhi imposed on the country on June 25, 1975, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted today: "India remembers the Emergency as a dark period during which every institution was subverted and an atmosphere of fear was created. Not only people but also ideas and artistic freedom were held hostage to power politics."

"I remember the time when massive number of leaders were put in jail. BJP leaders were among those jailed too," he said while speaking at a function in Mumbai.

But Modi did not go to jail during Emergency. The reason was his inventive ways to hide himself or move around freely in disguise.

After declaring Emergency, Indira started putting opposition leaders in jail. But many leaders wore disguises to avoid arrest so that they could plan a resistance against her. Modi was one of those leaders though at that time he was only a pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).


The RSS was among the groups that were banned during the Emergency. Modi disguised himself as a Sikh to avoid arrest. One report said he carried banned literature to Delhi and met Jan Sangh leaders in jail. A 25-year-old Modi also posed as a sanyasi and took leaders such as George Fernandes to safe houses. A small leader at that time, Modi's job was to serve as a connector between top leaders and circulate banned literature.

Besides disguising himself, he also had a pseudonym, Prakash.

Modi's underground activities during Emergency helped him grow his stature as a leader.
"By the time Emergency was lifted, Modi’s vision had widened and from being an obscure pracharak, he was a ‘name’ in RSS circles. Success in building a statewide net of supporters providing safe havens and financial support, organising meetings that escaped prying eyes of police, ferrying proscribed literature and ability to network with diverse anti-Emergency groups resulted in Modi’s stock-value rising and acquiring the label of a ‘thinking’ man," according to journalist Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.