He said he was ready to face any "punishment" if his drive against black money was deemed erroneous or his motives questionable. The comments came as the Congress sent feelers to Mamata Banerjee who is preparing to take to New Delhi her battle against demonetisation.
Amid signs of restlessness on the street, the Prime Minister took his strikeback beyond the Opposition and suggested that economists do not read the pulse of the people.
Recently, Kaushik Basu, World Bank chief economist now and India's chief economic adviser when the UPA was in power, tweeted that the economics of demonetisation "is complex and the collateral damage is likely to outstrip its benefits".
As Modi addressed audiences in Goa's Panaji and Karnataka's Belagavi this morning, he seemed to have returned to the histrionic heights of his 2014 campaign when he was not yet weighed down by the demands of the Prime Minister's office.
Modi said in Hindi: "My dear countrymen, I gave up my home, my family, my everything for this country." As he said this, PTI reported, his lips trembled and there were long pauses and he appeared to be fighting back tears.
In Panaji, Modi nearly genuflected before the crowd as he sought its blessings.
But there was a difference to 2014. His message about targeting the "dishonest" seemed intended not so much for the middle class, with its habitual weakness for anti-corruption crusaders like Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal, as for the poor whom he portrayed as the biggest potential beneficiaries of his efforts.
Party sources who have known Modi from Gujarat said he had realised that to win the next election, he must impress the "slums" and "resettlement colonies" that have remained outside the BJP's reach.
"To win over this huge target group, he is ready to forgo the votes of the traders and jewellers," a source said.
The BJP has traditionally been a favourite with the traders and, later, the neo-middle-class opposed to dynastic politics and corruption.
"If the owner of any benami (illegal) property is detected, he will not be spared. Such property is the country's property, the property of the poor. My government exists only to help the poor," Modi said.
"That's my sacred duty. And if some people think, 'we'll see about that', let them know that Modi will expose your real face."
He warned: "This is not the end for the corrupt: I have many more ideas in mind for them."
In Karnataka, where Modi attended a Lingayat event, he said: "I'm speaking to villagers here. You people (Modi's critics), sitting in air-conditioned rooms, given to tearing my hair out day in and day out, see, these are villagers who are educated, hardworking and honest. I salute them a hundred times."
In Goa, where he launched three projects and kicked off the campaign for the state elections, it seemed as though Modi was seeking a second mandate for himself.
"Give me time till December 30. If you find flaws, mistakes (in the drive), if you find my motives were not selfless, I'm ready to stand at whatever crossing you want me to and take whatever punishment you hand me," he said.
"But I'm certain that the process will keep moving forward, because there are 800 million youths whose fates stand at the crossroads."
Modi projected himself as the "honest" loner, an "outsider" to the political system who wanted to turn existing systems on their head at the risk of being "destroyed" by the "forces" ranged against him.
He aimed a jab at economists and a harder one at the Nehru-Gandhis without naming them.
"I took an important step but there are some who are lost in their thoughts. They judge people by their own yardsticks. If India's economists really read the people's pulse and did not use the scales with which politicians of an older generation were measured, they would have understood that our government was elected on the strength of high expectations," he said.
He asked the Panaji gathering: "Did you or did you not vote for a government that would extinguish corruption? Did you not ask me to get the black money out? Should I have done what I have or not?"
Attacking the Congress and the Gandhis, Modi said: "Those who want to do politics can, because they have already looted the country. Those who hurl baseless charges can continue doing so. But this is not about ahankaar. It is because I have seen bad things from up close. So I understand the pain and problems people have."
Although the BJP has showcased the demonetisation drive as a party project, it has become obvious that Modi is out to identify himself with the issue and propagate its "merits", leaving finance minister Arun Jaitley to explain the basics and clear technical misconceptions.
With the Opposition bracing to challenge Modi on the subject in the winter session of Parliament, which begins on November 16, the Prime Minister resorted to his tried rhetorical tactic of seeking popular endorsement.
In Panaji and Belagavi, he exhorted the audiences to stand up and clap to signify that their blessings were with him. They did.