new delhi prime minister narendra modi is now the template for what it means and takes to be a national leader union home minister amit shah has said asserting that the label was earlier handed out to even politicians of no proven merit and only capable of winning election from one or two safe lok sabha seatswhile national leaders were identified in the immediate aftermath of the independence movement by their name recall across regions because of their participation in the freedom struggle in the latter decades notably at the height of the coalition era the expression came to be much abused he said adding that delhi media generously distributed the status to its friends and favouriteswriting in the book modi20 dreams meet delivery brought out by rupa publications and to be launched on may 11 shah said such facile and insincere manufacturing of national leaders was shown up for what it was after modi led the bjp to its biggest lok sabha win in 2014 before repeating the feat with a bigger margin in 2019a confidant of the prime minister for over three decades shah wrote that the best teacher for a leader is travelling to ordinary places meeting ordinary families sharing ordinary experiences and doing all this by ordinary meansnarendra modi has done so with greater frequency and perseverance than any politician in the past 75 years he said adding that before the 2014 and the 2019 polls there had been no mandate for hope and no mandate that was simply a reward for tested performancenoting that no party had won majority in lok sabha since 1984 till 2014 he said parties and prime ministers won majorities between 1952 and 1984 on the basis of the goodwill of the freedom movement family legacy anger against the incumbent 1977 a mix of fear and sympathy 1984 with appeasement sectional prejudice vote bank mobilisation and empty sloganeering like garibi hatao of 1971everybody now recognises that the 2014 polls marked the most decisive shift in the history of indian politics shah wrotewith modis appeal being seen as a major factor in the bjps win in state polls including the recent phase of five assembly elections he said the prime minister embraces state campaigns issues and idiomshe is not just an addon or a mascot flown in for a few events and rallies he complements the deep understanding of local politics and concerns that state bjp units and leaders bring to the table this is very different from the supposed national leaders of other parties they are flyin flyout visitors with no sense of the ground reality the home minister saidmodi has the precious gift of personal connection with every state and region he added noting that one must go back to his years before 2001 to understand it and to his untiring bharat yatra of that period with a watchful eye a listening ear and an open mind that tapasya was his reallife universitythe prime ministers experiential learning is his cognitive