Narendra Modi's old associates attend the swearing-in ceremony and dinner party

NEW DELHI: The grand swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi did not have his family members among the audience, but the PM had not certainly forgotten his old associates, RSS colleagues from his earlier days. As many as 44 people who had been associated with Modi during his days as a Sangh member and its pracharak in different parts of Gujarat were among the privileged invited by the new PM for the occasion and treated to a lavish Gujarati dinner at the Gujarat Bhavan.

These RSS old-timers were mainly from the areas of Ahmedabad , Vadnagar, Panchamahal and Rajkot, where Modi had served the organisation in various capacities. "He has always followed the Sangh’s work in Gujarat even after he became a big man. He wanted us to write books because he believes that is the only way to get more people into the system," said Kishore Makwana, who was a teenager when Modi was a Sangh pracharak in Dholka, Ahmedabad.

As a Sangh pracharak, Modi was a regular columnist at Sadhana, the RSS’ Gujarati weekly. "He wrote under the penname Aniket (homeless), because he was fascinated by the concept of being homeless, unlimited by family bonds and doing the best for the country," said Rajat Chayya, another associate. On Monday noon, when these men arrived at the Gujarat Bhavan to congratulate Modi, flashing the white and golden invites and speaking to each other in Gujarati, no guard dared to stop them. "For friends, he is Nariya. But the same friend while at the Sangh will call him Narendrabhai" said Chintan Dholakia.

Among the guests on Monday was Om Bhikhubhai who used to tend to Modi’s needs during his visits to North Gujarat. "He would insist on sleeping on terraces built of stone, because the rooms were very stuffy. In the mornings, his bareback would be sore. I would feel very bad for him but he would be swiftly in action at 5 am," he said, adding, "He was very fond of cleanliness."