If what the exit polls predict comes true on May 23, one more person besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi can take credit for the return of the NDA government (the India Today-Axis My India poll gives the BJP-led NDA over 339 seats). And that man is party president Amit Shah, who has built the BJP into a formidable election machine. On a helicopter ride to Begusarai in Bihar with this author recently, where he was campaigning for cabinet minister Giriraj Singh, Amit Shah talked about a Hindu seer who profoundly impacted his life.

It was the early 1980s. The swami, who belonged to the Vedant-based Dasnami Parampara, was visiting Ahmedabad to address an RSS event. Amit Shah, then a part-time RSS volunteer and college-going son of a prosperous businessman, was tasked with the responsibility of looking after the seer.

Hailing from a Brahmin family of western UP, Vamdev was a travelling preacher. He was not rooted to any ashram but instead preached Vedic philosophy from a Tempo Traveller, mainly to rural folk.

Swami Vigyanand, the current joint general secretary of the VHP, who worked closely with Vamdev in his formative years, calls him a "selfless and pious tapasvi (ascetic)". The swami, however, caught the attention of the Sangh when, after 1984, he became one of five leading swamis who spearheaded the Ram temple movement in Ayodhya.

The brief association with Vamdev proved fruitful for Shah. He learnt the nuances of Hindu philosophy as he massaged the swami's feet. During one such interaction, Vamdev offered him a piece of advice. "Son," he told him, "to comprehend our culture and philosophy, you must attend the Kumbh Mela and interact with mahants and sadhus."

Shah was quick to act on the advice. Among the 200,000 persons converging on Haridwar in 1986 was a 21-year-old Amit Shah. The young RSS volunteer stayed in Swami Vamdev's camp to attend the once-in-every-12 years religious spectacle.

Each morning, Vamdev would slip Shah a hand-written note addressed to a particular swami, endorsing the young RSS volunteer. Shah would go there, spend a few hours with the swami, eat at the langar with other sadhus and collect a dakshina of between two and five rupees. With the money, he would hire a bicycle and go around the vast Kumbh mela precinct in the second half of the day before returning to Vamdev's camp.

Hailing from a Brahmin family of western UP, Vamdev was a travelling preacher

Once, when Shah received a 10 rupee dakshina from the langar of Vijayaraje Scindia, the Rajmata of Gwalior, he bought a garland of flowers for Vamdev. When asked where he got the extra money to buy the garland from, Shah told him the story, winning an appreciative smile from the swami in return.

The Kumbh Mela experience was a life-changing one for Amit Shah. It exposed him to the loftiness of Hindu spirituality.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, Swami Vamdev, Paramhansa Ramchandradasji, Mahant Avaidhyanathji (the guru of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath ), Nritya Gopaldasji and Yug Purush Parmandji Maharaj, the guru of Sadhvi Rithambara, championed the cause of the Ram temple movement.

The swami passed away in 1997 at the age of around 75. That was also the year that his young understudy made his debut as an MLA in the Gujarat assembly.

Amit Shah's worldview and politics were shaped by 4th century BC political theorist Chanakya, the 8th century Hindu reformer Adi Shankaracharya and the 20th century Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar 'Veer' Savarkar. Their portraits hang in the living room of his 11, Akbar Road residence.

Shah credits the Haridwar trip for teaching him lessons for life, playing a big role in his evolution and his emergence as a strong defender of his faith. The hidden stamp of Swami Vamdev's philosophy is clearly visible in his oratory -- he is unapologetic in his urge to decry those who attack Indian culture.

Shah addressed over 250 rallies in the 2019 Lok Sabha campaign.

In Begusarai, Shah stepped out of the chopper and waved to the massive crowd chanting 'Amit Shah zindabad' and 'Modi, Modi, Modi'. As he got into the car and moved to the venue, his motorcade was mobbed by workers and admirers lined on both sides of the road. His bodyguards struggled to protect him from the surging crowds.

The transformation is remarkable.

In the 2014 general election, Shah was a backroom person, specifically, general secretary in-charge of UP. But a single event in 2017 marked his emergence as a larger-than-life national political figure: the BJP's massive win in the 2017 UP assembly election.

The state where his spiritual guru lived and preached is also where Shah cut his political teeth.