Narendra Modi’s Letters to Mother Reveal His Innermost Musings to His Jagat Janani

28 May 2020

presents

Narendra Modi’s

LETTERS TO MOTHER

‘I am not a writer, most of us are not; but everybody seeks expression.’ – Narendra Modi

Translated from the Gujarati by

Bhawana Somaaya

Releasing in June 2020 as E-book and Hardback

‘This is not an attempt at literary writing; the passages featured in this book are reflections of my observations and sometimes unprocessed thoughts, expressed without filter…I am not a writer, most of us are not; but everybody seeks expression, and when the urge to unload becomes overpowering there is no option but to take pen and paper, not necessarily to write but to introspect and unravel what is happening within the heart and the head and why.’ – Narendra Modi

‘In my opinion Shri Narendra Modi’s strength as a writer is his emotional quotient. There is a raw intensity, a simmering restlessness which he does not disguise and that is his attraction.’ – Bhawana Somaaya, Translator

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About the Book

As a young man, Narendra Modi had got into the habit of writing a letter to the Mother Goddess, whom he addressed as Jagat janani, every night before going to bed. The topics were varied: there were seething sorrows, fleeting joys, lingering memories. In Modi’s writings there was the enthusiasm of a youngster and the passion to usher in change.

But every few months, Modi would tear up the pages and consign them to a bonfire. The pages of one diary, dating back to 1986, survived, however. These are now available in English for the very first time as Letters to Mother, in a powerful translation by Bhawana Somaaya.

About the Author

Narendra Damodardas Modi was born in Vadnagar, a small town in north Gujarat, on 17 September 1950. At an early age he went to the Himalayas to search for the meaning of life. Deciding that his inner calling was not to renounce the world but to contribute to the well-being of his fellow humans, he returned home and then joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He was included in the Gujarat cadre of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1988. On 7 October 2002, he took oath as the chief minister of Gujarat and continued in the post till 2014. He became prime minister of India on 26 May 2014 and was elected to a second term in May 2019.

About the Translator

Bhawana Somaaya has been a film critic for almost forty years and has contributed columns to various publications. She has authored several books on cinema. She was conferred the Padma Shri in 2017. Letters to Mother is her seventeenth book.

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For more details, please contact

Jaseya.Fazili@harpercollins.co.in (+91 97690 79212)

Krishna.Arora@harpercollins.co.in (+91 99115 68369)