Modi was a key strategist for the BJP in the successful 1995 and 1998 Gujarat state election campaigns, and was a major campaign figure in the 2009 general elections, eventually won by the
Indian National Congress-led
UPA.
[2][2] He first became chief minister of Gujarat in October 2001 after the resignation of his predecessor, Keshubhai Patel, and following the defeat of BJP in the by-elections. In July 2007, he became the longest-serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history, at which point he had been in power for 2,063 days continuously. He is currently serving his fourth consecutive term as Chief Minister.
Modi is a member of the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and is described as a
Hindu nationalist by media, scholars and himself.
[3][4][5][6] He is a controversial figure both within India and internationally.
[7][8][9][10] His administration has been criticised for the incidents surrounding the
2002 Gujarat violence.
[10][11] He has been praised for his economic policies, which are credited with creating an environment for a high rate of economic growth in Gujarat.
[12] However, his administration has also been criticised for failing to make a significant positive impact upon the human development of the state.
[13]Early life and education
Modi was born on 17 September 1950
[14] to a family of grocers in
Vadnagar in
Mehsana district of what was then
Bombay State (present-day Gujarat), India.
[15] He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife, Heeraben.
[16][17] As a child, he helped his father sell tea at the
Vadnagar railway station and on trains.
[18] As a teenager, Modi ran a tea stall with his brother near a bus terminus.
[19] He completed his schooling in Vadnagar, where a teacher described him as being an average student, but a keen debater.
[17] When he was a child, he was involved in theatre and he later incorporated his theatre experiences to sell politics and to stand out from crowd while giving speeches.
[20] Modi was a fan of
Rajesh Khanna, and Modi's style of wearing half-sleeved knee-length kurtas and delivering speeches is inspired by the actor.
[21]As a child, his parents had arranged him a marriage in keeping with the traditions of the
Ghanchi caste in Vadnagar. Modi was engaged to Jashodaben Chimanlal, from the neighboring town of Brahamanwada at the age of 17.
[22] At the pretext of a higher calling, Joshodaben claims she was deserted and never given the privileges of a wife.
[23] Narendra Modi admitted under oath that Jashodaben is his wife when he submitted nomination papers for the Vadodara constituency in April for
2014 Loksabha elections.
[24] The couple's marriage was not
consummated.
[25][26][27] However, in February 2014, in
Himachal Pradesh, Narendra Modi had said that his single status makes him the best person to fight corruption.
[28][29]Early political career
The RSS assigned Modi to the BJP in 1985.
[31][33] While
Shankarsingh Vaghela and Keshubhai Patel were the established names in the Gujarat BJP at that time, Modi rose to prominence after organising
Murli Manohar Joshi's
Ekta yatra (journey for unity).
[17] In 1988, Modi was elected as General secretary of BJP's Gujarat unit,
[30] and his electoral strategy was central to BJP's victory in the 1995 state elections.
[31][33][34]In November 1995, Modi was elected as the National Secretary of BJP.
[35] In May 1998, Modi was elevated to the post of the General Secretary of the BJP and was transferred to
New Delhi where he was assigned responsibility for the party's activities in
Haryana and
Himachal Pradesh.
[33] After Vaghela, who had threatened to break away from BJP in 1995, defected from the BJP after he lost the
1996 Lok Sabha elections, Modi was promoted to the post of National Secretary of the BJP in 1998.
[17] While selecting candidates for the 1998 state elections in Gujarat, Modi favored people who were loyal to Patel over those loyal to Vaghela, helping to put an end to the factional divisions within the party. His strategies were credited as being key to winning the 1998 elections.
[33]Chief Minister of Gujarat
In 2001, Keshubhai Patel health was failing, and the BJP had lost seats in the by-elections. Allegations of abuse of power, corruption and poor administration were being made, and Patel's standing had been damaged by his administration's handling of the
Bhuj Earthquake of 2001.
[33][36][37] As a result, BJP's national leadership sought a new candidate for the office of chief minister, and Modi, who had aired his misgivings about Patel's administration, was chosen as a replacement.
[17] L. K. Advani, a senior leader of the BJP, however, did not want to ostracise Patel and was worried about Modi's lack of experience in governance. However, Modi declined an offer to be Patel's deputy chief minister, informing Advani and
Atal Bihari Vajpayee that he was "going to be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all", and on 7 October 2001, Modi was appointed the Chief Minister of Gujarat, with the responsibility of preparing the BJP for elections in December 2002. As Chief Minister, Modi's ideas of governance revolved around privatisation and
small government, which stood at odds with what
Aditi Phadnis has described as the "anti-privatisation, anti-globalisation position" of the RSS.
[36]First term (2001-2002)
2002 Gujarat violence
On 27 February 2002, a train with several hundred passengers including large numbers of Hindu pilgrims was
burned near
Godhra, killing around 60 people.
[a] Following rumors that the fire was carried out by Muslim arsonists,
anti-Muslim violence spread throughout Gujarat.
[40] Estimates of the death toll ranged from 900 to over 2,000, while several thousand more people were injured.
[41][42] The Modi government imposed a curfew in major cities, issued shoot-at-sight orders, and called for the army to prevent the violence from escalating.
[43][44] However, human rights organizations, opposition parties, and sections of the media all accused Gujarat's government of taking insufficient action against the violence, and even condoning it in some cases.
[43][44][45] In April 2009, the
Supreme Court of India appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to inquire into the Gujarat government and Narendra Modi's role in the incidents of communal violence.
[45] The SIT reported to the court in December 2010 submitting that they did not find any incriminating evidence against Modi of willfully allowing communal violence in the state.
[46] Modi's decision to move the corpses of the
kar sevaks who had been burned to death in Godhra to Ahmedabad had been criticized for inflaming the violence.
[47][48]Despite the SIT report, Modi's involvement in the events of 2002 has continued to be debated. Though the SIT absolved Modi in April 2012 of any involvement in the
Gulbarg Society massacre, one of the many riots that occurred in 2002,
[49][50] the Supreme Court-appointed
amicus curiae, Raju Ramachandran, observed on 7 May 2012 that Modi could be prosecuted for promoting enmity among different groups during the 2002 Gujarat violence. His main contention was that the evidence should be examined by a court of law because the SIT was required to investigate but not to judge.
[51] The
amicus report was criticised by the Special Investigation Team for relying heavily on the testimony of
Sanjiv Bhatt, who they said had fabricated the documents used report.
[52] In July 2013, victim Zakia Jafri alleged that the SIT was suppressing evidence.
[53]2002 election
Second term (2002–2007)
Despite using anti-Muslim rhetoric during the campaign,
[58][59][60] Modi's emphasis shifted during his second term from
Hindutva to the economic development of Gujarat.
[36] Modi's decisions curtailed the influence of organizations of the Sangh Parivar such as the
Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) and the
Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP),
[61] which had become entrenched in Gujarat after the decline of Ahmedabad's textile industry.
[36] Modi dropped Gordhan Zadaphia, an ally of his former Sangh co–worker and VHP state chief
Praveen Togadia, from the cabinet ministry. When the BKS launched a farmers' agitation, Modi ordered their eviction from houses provided by the state government.
[61] Modi's decision to demolish 200 illegal temples in
Gandhinagar deepened the rift with VHP.
[61][62] Various organisations of the Sangh were no longer consulted nor informed of Modi's administrative decisions prior to their enactment.
[61]The changes brought by Modi in the period 2002–2007 has led to Gujarat being called an attractive investment destination. Aditi Phadnis, author of
Political Profiles of Cabals & Kings and columnist in the
Business Standard, writes that "there was sufficient anecdotal evidence pointing to the fact that corruption had gone down significantly in the state... if there was to be any corruption, Modi had to know about it".
[36] Modi started financial and technology parks in the state. During the 2007
Vibrant Gujarat summit, real estate investment deals worth
6.6 trillion were signed in Gujarat.
[36]Despite his focus on economic issues during the second term, Modi continued to be criticised for his relationship with Muslims. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then
Prime Minister of India, who had asked Modi not to discriminate between citizens in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat violence and had pushed for his resignation as Chief Minister of Gujarat,
[63][64] distanced himself from Modi and reached out to North Indian Muslims before the
2004 elections to the Lok Sabha. After the elections, Vajpayee held the violence in Gujarat as one of the reasons for BJP's electoral defeat and acknowledged that not removing Modi immediately after the Gujarat violence was a mistake.
[65][66]Terrorism and elections in 2007–2008
In July 2007, Modi completed 2,063 consecutive days as chief minister of Gujarat in July 2007, making him the longest-serving holder of that post.
[72] The BJP won 122 of the 182 seats in the state assembly in the 2007 election, and Modi continued as chief minister.
[73]
المیہ یہ ہے کہ جہاں دریا نہ ہو وہاں بھی پل بنانے کے وعدے پر ووٹ لے لینا ہی کامیاب انتخابی سیاست کہلاتی ہے۔ (نکیتا خروشچیف) 
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