‘अपनापन’ details PM Modi’s phone call before 2023 polls; book recounts crisis moments and personal ties

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday released a memoir that chronicles his 35-year political association with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, offering behind-the-scenes vignettes ranging from election tensions to the Pahalgam terror attack and the Covid years.

A book launch in Delhi
The book, titled Apnapan: Narendra Modi Sang Mere Anubhav, was unveiled at the NASC complex in Pusa, New Delhi, around 10:30 am on Tuesday. The release was performed by former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda and former vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu. Several senior party leaders and workers attended the event, sources at the venue said.

A call before the polls
One of the most striking episodes in the book concerns the run-up to the 2023 Madhya Pradesh assembly elections. Shivraj writes that when the first list of BJP candidates omitted his name, political opponents seized on remarks he had made and portrayed his career as over. According to the account, amid a charged atmosphere and taunts from the opposition, Prime Minister Modi rang him.

“Modi told me he was not speaking as the chief minister but as my Shivraj,” Shivraj recounts, according to excerpts shared by organisers. The book says the prime minister urged him to withdraw, reflect by the Ganges, and return with renewed focus. Following that advice, Shivraj travelled to Uttarakhand, spent time by the river and then resumed campaigning with renewed energy, holding more than 165 public meetings in about two weeks, the book notes.

Crisis leadership and Pahalgam
Apnapan also opens with a description of a cabinet meeting after the April 2025 Pahalgam attack that left 26 dead. Shivraj describes a composed Prime Minister who, he says, steered the meeting away from emotive rhetoric and towards a “different” operational response — distinct from past surgical or air strikes. The book frames that moment as an example of measured leadership under pressure, a line that will be familiar in official statements on national security, sources said.

Personal care during Covid
The memoir recalls another personal episode during the Covid pandemic, when Shivraj was hospitalised after testing positive. He writes that Modi telephoned and went beyond protocol, asking about oxygen levels, medication and his family’s well-being. “He felt less like a prime minister checking protocol and more like an elder family member,” Shivraj is reported to have written.

Family moments and grassroots scenes
The book mixes political anecdotes with domestic and grassroots scenes. Shivraj recounts Modi making consolation calls after the death of Shivraj’s father in 2019, and spending nearly 40 minutes with the family during recent meetings about his sons’ weddings—discussing their dairy business in detail, the book says.

There are also lighter but telling stories: Modi recognising an old worker, Deepak Kumar, at a 2023 rally in Jhajjar after two decades; asking campaign workers in 1998 who had email ids, underscoring an early belief in technology’s political role; and insisting in 2014 that the then-chief minister remain among investors at an Indore summit instead of escorting him to the airport.

Policy and public programmes
Shivraj’s narrative also touches on policy stances. He recalls a cabinet exchange during the Trump tariff disputes when the prime minister, he says, made clear India would not compromise on farmers’ interests even at personal political cost. The book gives space to PM Svanidhi too, describing how the scheme provided street vendors not only credit but dignity—shifting their identity to “streetpreneurs,” Shivraj writes.

What it signals
Taken together, the anecdotes in Apnapan aim to portray a long, personal political partnership where public leadership and private counselling intersect. The memoir provides supporters a trove of humanising vignettes and gives political observers material to reassess leadership style in moments of crisis.

Next steps and reception
Early reactions from party circles were warm at the launch, while opposition leaders may view the book’s personal anecdotes through a political prism. The memoir is expected to be stocked in bookstores this week and could shape a portion of public conversation ahead of forthcoming political events.