Ambani’s Wish for Modi in 2047 Fuels BJP’s Cult Politics Narrative

As India’s richest industrialist dreams of a 96-year-old Narendra Modi leading the nation at Independence centenary, the BJP sharpens its cult-building strategy, echoing traditions once reserved for Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

By MANISH ANAND

NEW DELHI, September 17, 2025 — On Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 75th birthday, Mukesh Ambani made a striking wish: that when India celebrates its centenary of independence in 2047, Modi should still be the country’s Prime Minister. It was couched as admiration, but the remark feeds directly into a political narrative the BJP has been carefully nurturing—turning Modi from a leader into an icon, perhaps even into a cult figure.

By 2047, Modi will be 96, far older than any serving Indian Prime Minister to date. The oldest in recent memory, P. V. Narasimha Rao, managed India’s economic transition in the 1990s while in his seventies, with Manmohan Singh as finance minister. Age, as China’s Xi Jinping recently told Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un in a leaked side-conversation, may soon be stretched by biotechnology and organ transplants. If science makes 150-year lifespans feasible, as Xi suggested, Ambani’s vision may not be entirely fantastical.

Still, the political significance is immediate. Modi is no longer framed as a mere politician but as an enduring symbol of India’s rise—much as Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi once were for the Congress. The BJP, which struggled to manufacture a cult around Atal Bihari Vajpayee despite his popularity, has now found in Modi the singular figure it long craved.

The signs were everywhere on his birthday: national newspapers plastered not with hard news but with pages of birthday greetings and advertisements, from state governments to corporate houses. Modi was projected less as a prime minister and more as an idea—Brand Modi—capable of commanding devotion across geography, class, and caste lines.

Cult politics, of course, is not new to India. Nehru and Indira were elevated to near-mythical status by the Congress, while Rajiv Gandhi’s aura quickly dimmed after Bofors. Modi’s cult, however, is carefully curated for the digital age, amplified by state machinery, party cadre, and an ecosystem of media and corporates eager to align with his image. His role as the BJP’s supreme campaigner, architect of military strikes, and deliverer of welfare schemes—all combine into a personality-driven political machine.

Ambani’s wish, therefore, is not just a personal sentiment. It is emblematic of a broader shift in Indian politics, where longevity and cult status matter as much as governance. Whether Modi can truly lead at 96 is secondary; for the BJP, the more important truth is that his name alone may secure votes for decades to come.

(This is an opinion piece, and views expressed are those of the author only)

From Party to Personality: BJP’s Cult-Building Around Modi at 75

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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