On 26 June 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India which lasted

until 1977. During this period, many of her political opponents were jailed and opposition groups
(including the RSS) were banned.[49][50] As pracharak in-charge of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi
Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, Modi was forced to go underground in Gujarat and
frequently traveled in disguise to avoid arrest. He became involved in printing pamphlets opposing
the government, sending them to Delhi and organising demonstrations.[23][51][52][53] During this period
Modi wrote a Gujarati book, Sangharsh ma Gujarat (The Struggles of Gujarat), describing events
during the Emergency.[54][55]
He was assigned by the RSS to the BJP in 1985.[32] In 1988 Modi was elected organising secretary of
the party's Gujarat unit, marking his entrance into electoral politics. [46][56] He rose within the party,
helping organise L. K. Advani's 1990 Ayodhya Rath Yatra in 1990 and Murli Manohar Joshi's 1991
92 Ekta Yatra (Journey for Unity).[23][57] As party secretary, Modi's electoral strategy was considered
central to BJP victory in the 1995 state assembly elections.[32][58][59] In November of that year Modi was
elected BJP national secretary and transferred to New Delhi, where he assumed responsibility for
party activities in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.[58][60] The following year, Shankersinh Vaghela (one
of the most prominent BJP leaders in Gujarat) defected to the INC after losing his parliamentary seat
in the Lok Sabha elections.[23] Modi, on the selection committee for the 1998 Assembly elections in
Gujarat, favoured supporters of BJP leader Keshubhai Patel over those supporting Vaghela to end
factional division in the party. His strategy was credited as key to the BJP winning an overall majority
in the 1998 elections,[58][61] and Modi was promoted to BJP general secretary (organisation) in May of
that year.[62]