Modi’s Birthday Month in Bengal: Schools, Students and a Statewide ‘Seva Sankalp’ Push

KOLKATA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on September 17 is set to become the starting point of an unusually extensive month-long outreach programme in West Bengal, with the state government and BJP planning a series of events that will stretch well beyond the customary birthday celebrations. From schoolchildren and their families to welfare beneficiaries, youth groups and local communities, the campaign is being positioned as a public-service and awareness drive linked to Modi’s 25 years in executive office.

The programme, being referred to as ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’, is scheduled to begin on September 17 and continue through October, with several activities planned across districts. The campaign is expected to combine public-service initiatives, cultural programmes, competitions, welfare outreach and events aimed at highlighting the Prime Minister’s political journey and the Centre’s flagship schemes. 

One of the most visible components in Bengal will involve school students. According to reports, students from more than 80,000 schools are expected to participate in programmes such as drawing, elocution, debate and quiz competitions under the theme ‘Bacchon ke Sapnon ka Bharat’, encouraging children to articulate their vision of India in 2047. 

Schools have also been asked to involve students and their families in a diya-lighting programme on the evening of September 17. The proposed exercise is expected to create a large-scale visual spectacle across the state, with reports putting the planned number of lamps at several million. The programme is being linked to the celebration of Modi’s birthday as well as the completion of 25 years of his continuous administrative career. 

The ‘25 crore’ figure in the campaign, however, needs a crucial clarification. It does not refer to 25 crore students being mobilised for Modi’s birthday. BJP leaders have used the figure to claim that around 25 crore people have been lifted out of poverty during the Modi government’s tenure. That political claim is being highlighted as part of the party’s narrative around 25 years of Modi’s public service. 

The distinction is significant because the student-focused programme in Bengal is being organised through schools, while the 25-crore figure relates to the BJP’s broader claim about poverty reduction. The two figures therefore represent different aspects of the campaign and should not be treated as a single mobilisation target.

The month-long programme also reflects a broader attempt by the BJP to take the Prime Minister’s birthday beyond a single-day political celebration. At the national level, the party has announced a month-long Seva Sankalp Abhiyan beginning September 17, focusing particularly on Modi’s 25 years in public life. The campaign is expected to include outreach programmes involving youth, women, farmers and beneficiaries of government schemes. 

In Bengal, the political messaging is expected to be particularly significant. The state BJP has been working to expand its grassroots presence, and the campaign provides an opportunity to combine organisational mobilisation with direct public engagement. Earlier plans for the Bengal campaign included reaching households and booths with the message of ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’, alongside welfare-oriented programmes in schools, colleges and rural areas. 

The emphasis on children and young people gives the campaign another dimension. Through debates, quizzes, drawing competitions and other activities, the BJP is seeking to turn the idea of a developed India into a subject of discussion among students. The ‘Dream India’ theme and programmes such as ‘Namo Seva’ are expected to form part of this wider effort. 

The campaign will also place welfare schemes at the centre of its messaging. Programmes are expected to highlight schemes such as PM Awas Yojana, Ayushman Bharat and PM Surya Ghar, with the BJP seeking to showcase beneficiaries and communicate the perceived impact of these initiatives at the grassroots level. 

For the BJP, the timing carries additional political importance. September 17 marks Modi’s birthday, while October 7 marks 25 years since he became Gujarat chief minister in 2001. Party leaders are therefore presenting the period not merely as a birthday celebration but as a commemoration of a quarter-century of uninterrupted executive responsibility. A separate ‘Seva Yatra’ has also been announced from Varanasi to Vadnagar, reflecting the same political narrative. 

Kolkata, meanwhile, is expected to witness some of the most prominent public-facing events. The city administration has planned programmes around the anniversary, including lighting of diyas and welfare-enrolment activities. The broader celebrations are designed to connect public participation with government schemes and the Prime Minister’s political journey. 

The scale of the exercise is likely to make September and early October politically busy in Bengal. With schools, families, welfare beneficiaries, cultural groups and local organisations being brought into different strands of the programme, the BJP is attempting to create a campaign that extends from classrooms to neighbourhoods and from social-service activities to political communication.

Yet the exercise is also likely to generate political debate. Opposition parties may question the involvement of educational institutions and students in programmes centred around a political leader, while the BJP is expected to defend the initiatives as awareness-building and public-service activities. The debate could become sharper as the campaign combines government schemes, school participation and political messaging.

For the BJP, the larger objective appears to be clear: transform September 17 from a one-day birthday event into the launchpad for a month-long narrative about Modi’s political journey, welfare initiatives and the party’s vision of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047. In Bengal, where the party is seeking deeper grassroots consolidation, the extensive school and community outreach could give that national campaign a distinctly local character.

What begins on Modi’s birthday, therefore, is likely to be less about a single celebration and more about political communication stretched across an entire month — with students, families and beneficiaries becoming central participants in the BJP’s attempt to take the message of Modi’s 25-year public career directly to Bengal’s neighbourhoods.