Narendra Modi

Narendra Damodardas Modi ( pronunciation (help·info); born 17 September 1950) is the 14th and current Chief Minister of Gujarat, a state in western India. Modi was a key strategist for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the successful 1995 and 1998 Gujarat state election campaigns. He first became chief minister of Gujarat in October 2001, being promoted to the office upon the resignation of his predecessor, Keshubhai Patel, following the defeat of BJP in by-elections. In July 2007, he became the longest-serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history when he had been in power for 2,063 days continuously. Under his leadership, the Bharatiya Janata Party won the 2012 State Assembly Elections and he was chosen to serve for a fourth term as chief minister.

Modi is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He holds a master's degree in political science. Modi is a controversial figure both within India and internationally. His administration has been criticised for the incidents surrounding the 2002 Gujarat violence. His policies are credited with creating the environment for the high economic growth in Gujarat.

Early life :

Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar in Mehsana district of what was then Bombay State (present-day Gujarat), India. He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife, Heeraben. While a teenager, Modi ran a tea stall with his brother around a bus terminus. He completed his schooling in Vadnagar, where a teacher describes him as being an average student but a keen debater.

He began work in the staff canteen of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation, where he stayed till he became a full–time pracharak (propagator) of the RSS. After Modi had received some RSS training in Nagpur, which was a prerequisite for taking up an official position in the Sangh Parivar, he was given charge of Sangh's student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, in Gujarat. Modi organised agitations and covert distribution of Sangh's pamphlets during the Emergency. During his years in the RSS, Modi came in touch with Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, leaders of the Jan Sangh, who later founded the BJP's Gujarat state unit.

Education and political activism :

Modi remained a pracharak in the RSS while he completed his master's degree in political science from Gujarat University. The RSS seconded Modi to the BJP in 1987. While Shankarsingh Vaghela and Keshubhai Patel were the established names in the BJP, Modi rose to prominence after organising Murli Manohar Joshi's Ekta yatra (journey for unity). His electoral strategy was central to BJP's victory in the 1995 state elections.

Modi became 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. Vaghela, who had threatened to break away from BJP in 1995, defected from the BJP after he lost the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. In 1998, Modi was promoted to the post of National Secretary of the BJP. While selecting candidates for the 1998 state elections in Gujarat, Modi sidelined people who were loyal to Vaghela and rewarded those who favoured Patel, thus ending factional divisions within the party. His strategies were key to winning those elections.

Patel's failing health, along with allegations of abuse of power, corruption and poor administration, as well as a loss of BJP seats in by-elections and the effects of the devastating Bhuj Earthquake of 2001, which his administration struggled to handle, prompted the BJP's national leadership to seek a new candidate for the office of chief minister. Modi, who had aired his misgivings about Patel's administration, was chosen as a replacement. 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. It was suggested that Modi should be made the deputy chief minster in a government led by Patel. Modi informed Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee that he was "going to be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all" and declined the proposal. On 7 October 2001, Modi was appointed the Chief Minister of Gujarat and was assigned responsibility to prepare 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.

2002 Gujarat violence :

The 2002 Gujarat violence was a period of inter-communal violence in the Indian state of Gujarat which lasted for approximately three days. Following on from the initial incident there were further outbreaks of violence in Ahmedabad which lasted for approximately three weeks, statewide there were further outbreaks of mass killings against the minority Muslim population for three months. The attack on 27 February 2002 on a train, thought by most to have been carried out by Muslims, and which caused the deaths of 58 people, some of whom were activists returning from Ayodhya, is believed to have been the cause of the incidents, with some commentators calling the violence an act of retaliation. Other commentators however have disputed this saying that the attacks had been pre-planned, were well orchestrated and that the attack on the train was in fact a "staged trigger" for what was actually premeditated violence.

According to the official figures, the riots resulted in the deaths of 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus; 2,500 people were injured non-fatally, and 223 more were reported missing. Other sources estimate that up to 2000 Muslims died. There were instances of rape, children being burned alive, and widespread looting and destruction of property. Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been accused of initiating and condoning the violence, as have police and government officials who allegedly directed the rioters and gave lists of Muslim-owned properties to them. In 2012, Modi was cleared of complicity in the violence by a Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court of India. The Muslim community are reported to have reacted with "anger and disbelief" and Teesta Setalvad, of the NGO, Citizen for Peace and Justice, has said the legal process was not yet over as there was a right to appeal.

While officially classified as a communalist riot, the 2002 events have been described as a pogrom by many scholars and commentators. Other independent observers have stated that these events had met the "legal definition of genocide", called it an instance of state terrorism, while others have said the incidents were tantamount to ethnic cleansing. Instances of mass violence which occurred include the Naroda Patiya massacre that took place directly alongside a police training camp, the Gulbarg Society massacre which resulted in the death of Ehsan Jafri a former member of parliament, and in the city of Vadodara. Martha Nussbaum has said that "There is by now a broad consensus that the Gujarat violence was a form of ethnic cleansing, that in many ways it was premeditated, and that it was carried out with the complicity of the state government and officers of the law".

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