New Delhi, Aug. 10: The Narendra Modi lore has grown a little, from the comic-book ordeal by water to a diary test by fire.

Modi had, for reasons unexplained, thrown his diary into a fire on December 8, 1986, it was claimed today, before his Sangh colleague Narendra Panchasara salvaged 100-odd pages.

These pages have been put together in the shape of a glossy, titled Sakshi Bhav (Method of Witnessing), which was launched here this evening by BJP president Amit Shah and home minister Rajnath Singh.

Written in a combination of prose and verse, Modi's musings go back to his days as a Sangh pracharak (whole-timer) in Gujarat in the 1970s.

This nugget from the Prime Minister's early days, of which little is known despite the recent rash of biographies, was shared at the event by Gujarat writer Kishor Makwana, who said he had known Modi for over three decades.

Makwana's biography, Common Man Modi, too was released by Shah and Rajnath today along with three works by the Prime Minister: Sakshi Bhav, Social Harmony and Jyoti Punj.

Recently, a comic book titled Bal Narendra depicted a boy Narendra diving into a lake in his hometown Vadnagar to entrap a baby crocodile before releasing it at his mother's request. Makwana today related another potentially legend-worthy story from Modi's days as Gujarat chief minister.

Attending an event at a girls' school, Modi spotted one girl whose eyesight didn't seem right, Makwana said. He walked up to her and was told that her vision had been impaired since a needle pierced her eye.

Modi arranged to have her sight restored. "This is the power of his vision," gushed Makwana.

Shah described himself as a "straightforward" person who "did not write but worked" and was therefore unqualified to speak on books.

He said Modi's biggest contribution was "building a mass of workers" as a Sangh pracharak in Gujarat. These workers, Shah said, went on to become the Sangh's "backbone".

He said that when the Sangh asked Modi to work for the BJP, the party had just 11 of Gujarat's 182 Assembly seats.

"He built the BJP, gave it a concrete shape, put it on the aspirational path and ensured that when it came to power on its own in 1995 for the first time, it never lost an election thereafter."

Shah recalled that when Modi was sent from Delhi to head the Gujarat government in 2001, his cabinet colleagues were sceptical because he had never even contested a local body election.

"Modiji joked that he would be an ' ajeevan CM' (lifelong CM). Some thought he was perhaps being arrogant. But he quickly said that 'CM' did not mean 'chief minister' but a 'common man' and that he would be a lifelong common man," Shah recalled.