Rs 14 cr in 9 days in just 1 state: The ever-expanding Modi celebration machine

It’s birthday season for the prime minister again. PM Narendra Modi turns a year older today, and right on cue, his government, an assortment of BJP-run states, and the party itself are gearing up to stretch the celebrations into a full month of inaugurations, foundation-stone ceremonies and publicity blitzes.

In Delhi, the state government and BJP plan to roll out the “Seva Sankalp Abhiyan – Jan Seva Hi Prabhu Seva Hai” programme, running from September 17 all the way to October 18, with this year’s milestone also conveniently lining up with roughly 25 years since Modi first became Gujarat’s chief minister. Meanwhile, the Haryana government has allocated Rs 10 lakh to every Deputy Commissioner in the state for the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan.

Gujarat, as it turns out, has its own precedent. For a nine-day “Vikas Saptah” event last October marking 24 years since Modi first took charge as CM, the state government spent Rs 14.05 crore, according to an assembly reply to Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani. The year before that, to mark 23 years of what the government itself branded “successful and capable leadership,” Gujarat spent Rs 8.81 crore on advertisements alone, per figures given to the BBC under the RTI Act. 

According to the Gujarat Chief Minister’s Office website, the state observes ‘Vikas Saptah’ every year from October 7 to 15, timed to Modi’s 2001 oath-taking as chief minister. The government has described it as an occasion to highlight the state’s development journey and governance, with programmes, inaugurations, foundation-laying ceremonies and publicity of government schemes filling out the period.

There is precedent nationally too. There was the “GST Diwas” to mark one year of a tax that people were still filing extensions to understand. There was the “9 Saal, Seva, Sushasan, Garib Kalyan” campaign. Mann Ki Baat's 100th episode got treated less like a radio show milestone and more like a moon landing, complete with global viewing parties. Ayushman Bharat, Ujjwala Yojana, and the Jan Dhan accounts all get their own annual “X years, Y crore beneficiaries” ad blitzes. And there was also a campaign to mark PM Modi's 4,399 days in office.

When the GST rates were revised, advertisements thanking the prime minister were everywhere. The government followed this up with a “GST Bachat Utsav” running from September 4 to October 28, 2025, on which Rs 22 crore was spent on advertisements alone, according to Rajya Sabha data. In other words, even the campaign celebrating GST savings was itself funded with public money. 

Not the first such campaign

The October 2025 ‘Vikas Saptah’ was not the first publicity campaign by the Gujarat government to mark Modi’s years in public life – a similar campaign was organised in 2024 to mark 23 years of his tenure in public office.

According to a BBC Hindi report, the Gujarat government released advertisements on October 7, 2024. One ad, titled “23 Years of Successful and Capable Leadership”, was published to congratulate Modi on completing 23 years in public office – first as chief minister and later prime minister.

The BBC sought details of the expenditure on these advertisements from the Gujarat government’s Information Department under the Right to Information Act. The department said a total of Rs 8.81 crore was spent on the advertisements across print, electronic, digital and social media.

This campaign is part of a wider pattern of political milestones being turned into occasions for government publicity under BJP governments – sometimes the prime minister’s birthday, sometimes the anniversary of his taking oath as chief minister, and at other times the anniversary of his becoming prime minister.

Most recently, billboards were put up and advertisements released to congratulate Modi on becoming the longest-serving elected prime minister of India.

Rs 108.80 crore spent on publicity in 2025

The Gujarat Information and Broadcasting Department’s spending on publicity stood at Rs 108.80 crore during the year ending December 31, 2025. This was spent through print, digital and social media, according to a separate reply given in the state Assembly, and works out to an average of around Rs 29.8 lakh a day.

The figures were provided in response to a question raised by Congress MLA Dr Kiritkumar Chimanlal Patel. The Rs 14.05 crore spent on ‘Vikas Saptah’ was part of this larger publicity expenditure. The Assembly reply does not provide a separate breakup of the Rs 108.80 crore spent across print, digital and social media.

In Gujarat, the Information and Broadcasting Department is under the Chief Minister.

Agencies and payments

Patel had also asked how many agencies had been selected for government publicity, and how many print, digital and social media agencies had been paid during the year. The government's response to both questions was “zero”.

In the case of ‘Vikas Saptah’, the government said the Information Department had not written to any other department seeking payment against bills related to the expenditure, and that no department had deposited either the full or partial amount of the expenditure.

Election year saw Gujarat govt spend Rs 305.37 crore

Gujarat’s Information and Broadcasting Department spent Rs 305.37 crore in 2022-23 – the year the state held Assembly elections, in December 2022. The department had been allocated Rs 317.82 crore for the financial year, leaving Rs 12.45 crore unspent; the expenditure works out to an average of around Rs 83.66 lakh a day. The figures were provided by the state government in response to a question raised in the Assembly by Gulabsinh Somjibhai Chauhan, MLA from Lunawada.

The department’s expenditure had been considerably lower the previous year. In 2021-22, the government allocated Rs 166.33 crore to the department, of which Rs 163.43 crore was spent — an average of around Rs 44.77 lakh a day, with Rs 2.90 crore remaining unspent. In 2022-23, however, expenditure jumped to Rs 305.37 crore, an increase of nearly 87 per cent over the previous year.

Our reporting on government advertising

Newslaundry has reported extensively on government advertising expenditure across India. We found that the Narendra Modi government spent Rs 5,987 crore on advertisements between 2014-15 and 2024-25. 

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh spent Rs 6,811.94 crore between 2017-18 and 2024-25. In Uttarakhand, government advertising expenditure reached Rs 1,001 crore over five financial years.

You can read more reports on government advertising spending below. 

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