From a hilltop temple in Itanagar to the tarmac of Donyi Polo Airport, Arunachal Pradesh lit up for Narendra Modi on Wednesday — and the BJP made sure every corner of the state felt it.
September 17 marked the Prime Minister’s 76th birthday, and the Bharatiya Janata Party across Arunachal Pradesh turned the occasion into a statewide event under a programme called Aashirwad Ka Diya — an initiative that had party leaders, elected representatives, and workers lighting ceremonial lamps in prayer for Modi’s health, strength, and long life. There was something almost deeply personal about the imagery. A flame, after all, carries weight in this part of the world.
The most prominent ceremony took place in Itanagar, where Chief Minister Pema Khandu joined state BJP president Kaling Moyong to light the diya at the Theravada Buddhist Temple. The choice of venue wasn’t coincidental — the Buddhist temple carries a quiet sanctity, and lighting a lamp there said something beyond party messaging. It was an act the BJP clearly wanted to frame as spiritual, not just political.
Out in Ziro, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Tai Tagak led a separate programme. Ziro — a town known as much for its paddy fields and Apatani culture as it is for anything political — saw the initiative take root in its own quiet way. And at Donyi Polo Airport in Holongi, state ministers Ojing Tasing and Dasanglu Pul were among those who participated in the diya-lighting ceremony, lending the event a cross-regional, statewide character that the party clearly intended.
The BJP said the day was about more than a birthday. It was, they stated, part of a wider commemoration of what the party describes as 25 years of Modi’s “dedicated public service” — counting back to his time as Gujarat’s Chief Minister in 2001. Whether one agrees with that framing or not, there’s no denying that 25 years in public life is a significant milestone for any political figure, let alone one who now sits at the highest office in the world’s most populous democracy.
The theme the party chose for the programme was: “Jisne Desh Ka Jeevan Sanwara, Usko Hai Aashirwad Humara” — loosely translated as, “He who shaped the life of the nation, has our blessings.” It’s the kind of line that reads as both a tribute and a political statement rolled into one.
Across the state, BJP office-bearers, Morcha heads, party workers and elected representatives joined in. The scale of participation suggested this wasn’t a half-hearted affair — the party mobilised widely, touching both urban pockets and smaller constituencies.
Arunachal has consistently returned BJP governments with strong mandates, and Chief Minister Pema Khandu’s presence at the Itanagar event underscored just how central Modi’s image remains to the party’s identity in the Northeast. The region, once considered politically peripheral, has been a consistent priority under the Modi dispensation in terms of infrastructure push, border development and connectivity.
A lamp lit for a leader. Prayers offered across mountain towns, river valleys and airport lounges. It may read as symbolism — but in Indian politics, symbolism is rarely just that. It is signal, identity, and solidarity all at once.
The diyas may have gone out by midnight, but the message the BJP wanted to send across Arunachal Pradesh — that Modi’s vision still burns bright — lingered well past the flame.
