Opinion | The Prime Minister Who Made Us Look Again At Bharat

What truly surprised me was PM Modi's knowledge of the Northeast — and, more particularly, Manipur.

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The first time I met Shri Narendra Modi ji, I was struck by something I had not expected. It was not the aura of a Prime Minister or the presence of a towering political leader. It was his humility.

But what truly surprised me was his knowledge of the Northeast — and, more particularly, Manipur.

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As someone from Manipur, the state often described as the “Jewel of India", I have always been somewhat irked by the ignorance that exists about my state. I have encountered people from different parts of the country who could barely place Manipur on a map, let alone understand its history, culture, people or contribution to India.

So, meeting a person from the extreme western end of the country who could speak with such familiarity about Manipur was a deeply personal experience for me.

Here was a leader who, even before becoming Prime Minister, had developed an understanding of a region thousands of kilometres from his own home state. He spoke not merely about Manipur’s problems, but about its potential, its culture, its people and its significance to Bharat.

Over the years, I had the opportunity to meet him multiple times, with my last meeting being in 2022. What stayed with me was the consistency of his warmth, interest and enthusiasm for the Northeast, and particularly for my home state of Manipur.

Each meeting reinforced the impression created during our first encounter in 2014. Despite the enormous responsibilities that came with becoming Prime Minister, and despite the passage of almost a decade, I continued to sense the same genuine interest in the region. It was not simply a passing curiosity. His conversations reflected an appreciation of the Northeast’s culture, its people, its strategic importance and, above all, its potential.

For me, that continuity was significant.

A leader’s familiarity with a region can be acquired through briefings and official files. But the enthusiasm with which one speaks about its people and possibilities is something one feels in a personal interaction. In my encounters with Narendra Modi ji, I felt that enthusiasm remained undiminished.

That is perhaps why those meetings have remained particularly memorable for me. I did not merely encounter the Prime Minister of India; I encountered a leader who seemed to see the Northeast not as a distant periphery, but as an integral and important part of Bharat.

Today, Shri Narendra Modi ji is not only the Prime Minister of India but, since June 2026, the country’s longest-serving democratically elected Prime Minister in consecutive terms. Yet, for me, his significance goes beyond the length of his tenure or the scale of his political achievements.

What distinguishes his leadership, in my view, is the combination of humility, dedication, service and an extraordinary awareness of India’s diversity and civilisational inheritance.

India........

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