He was born in a middle class family in Vadnagar; and is a member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since childhood, as also an active politician since early in life. He holds a masters degree in political science. In 1998, he was chosen by L. K. Advani, the leader of the BJP, to direct the election campaign in Gujarat as well as Himachal Pradesh.
He became Chief Minister of Gujarat in October 2001, promoted to the office at a time when his predecessor Keshubhai Patel had resigned, following the defeat of BJP in the by-elections.
His tenure as chief minister of Gujarat began on 7 October 2001, and he is the longest serving Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat. In July 2007 he became the longest serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history when he had been in power for 2063 days continuously. He was elected again for a third term on 23 December 2007 with an emphatic win in the state elections, which he had cast as a "referendum on his rule".
Early activism and politics
During his tenure with the RSS, Modi played several important roles on various occasions including the 1974 anti-corruption agitation and the harrowing 19-month (June 1975 to January 1977) long Emergency,declared by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, when the fundamental rights of Indian citizens were strangled. Modi was a Pracharak in the RSS during his university years.
He took up the challenging task of energizing the party cadres in right earnest. In partnership with Shankarsingh Vaghela, Modi set about creating a strong cadre base in Gujarat. In the initial period, Shankarsingh Vaghela was seen as a mass leader, while Modi was recognised as a master strategist.
The party started gaining political mileage and formed a coalition government at the centre in April 1990. This partnership fell apart within a few months, but the BJP came to power with a two-thirds majority on its own in Gujarat in 1995. Since then, the BJP has been governing Gujarat.
During this period, Modi was entrusted with the responsibility of organizing two crucial national events, the Somnath to Ayodhya Rath Yatra (a political rally through India on a converted Toyota van) of L.K. Advani and a similar march from Kanyakumari (the southernmost part of India) to Kashmir in the North. After the exit of Shankarsingh Vaghela from the BJP, Keshubhai Patel was made Chief Minister while Narendra Modi was sent to New Delhi as a General Secretary of the Party.
In 1995, Modi was appointed the National Secretary of the party and given the charge of five major states in India. In 1998, he was promoted as the General Secretary (Organization), a post he held until October 2001. In 2001, Narendra Modi was chosen by the party to be the Chief Minister of Gujarat after the removal of chief minister Keshubhai Patel.
During his stint at the national level, Modi was given the responsibility to oversee the affairs of several state level units, including the sensitive and crucial state of Jammu and Kashmir and the equally sensitive north-eastern states. While working at the national level, Modi emerged as an important spokesman for the party and played a key role on several aspects.
Tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat
In October 2001, he was called upon by the party to lead the Government in Gujarat. When the Modi government was sworn in on 7 October 2001, the economy of Gujarat was reeling under the adverse effects of several natural calamities, including a massive earthquake in January 2001.
Personality
Modi is known for leading a frugal lifestyle. He only employs a personal staff of just three. He is known to be a workaholic Chief Minister and an introvert.Modi is considered as the singular leader of BJP in Gujarat because of his election record and having an autocratic almost insensitive leadership manner. He ordered the demolition of many Hindu temples that were built without proper government sanction which earned him the ire of VHP He is described as an incendiary politician. A crowd puller as a speaker and a dramatic,sardonic and churlish speaker. Modi has also tried to turn his image from an Hindu Nationalist politician to an image of able administrator. He wears business suits and is improving his command over the english language.
Development of Gujarat
Modi became the Chief Minister of Gujarat when its economy was shrinking and the domestic growth was stagnant. Faced with massive economic losses, he re-organised the government's administrative structure and embarked upon a massive cost-cutting exercise. As a result of the administration's efforts, Gujarat registered a GDP growth rate of over 10% during his first tenure. This was the highest growth rate among all the Indian states.
As a Chief Minister, Modi started various 'yojanas' or plans. This includes:
Panchamrut Yojana, a five-pronged strategy for an integrated development of the state,
Sujalam Sufalam, a scheme to create a grid of water resources in Gujarat in an innovative step towards water conservation and its appropriate utilization.
Krishi Mahotsav – agricultural research labs for the land
Chiranjeevi Yojana – To reduce infant mortality rate
Matru Vandana – Providing preventive and curative services under the Reproductive and Child Health Programme
Beti Bachao – Campaign against female infanticide to improve sex ratio
Jyotigram Yojana – Provide electricity to every village
Karmayogi Abhiyan – To educate and train government employees
Kanya Kelavani Yojana – To encourage female literacy and education
Balbhog Yojana – Midday meal scheme for students to encourage school attendance from poor backgrounds.
Vibrant Gujarat
Vibrant Gujarat is a biennial Global Investors' Summit held by the Government of Gujarat in Gujarat, India. The event is aimed at bringing together business leaders, investors, corporations, thought leaders, policy and opinion makers; the summit is advertised as a platform to understand and explore business opportunities in the State of Gujarat. the event has been held continuously since 2003.
Gujarat earthquake
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| 2001 Gujarat Earthquake |
The biggest challenge which he had to face, when he took over as the Chief Minister, was the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the areas affected by the massive Gujarat Earthquake of January 2001. Bhuj was a city of rubble and thousands of people were living in temporary shelters without any basic infrastructure. For Gujarat Government's contribution for disaster management and rehabilitation, on 16-10-2003 Gujarat govt got UN Sasakawa Certificate of Merit for outstanding work in the field of disaster management and risk reduction.
Gujarat Riots 2002
A train carrying Hindus burned by a mob in Godhra town leading to 59 deaths. Riots took place after rumours spread that it was caused by muslims in the state leading to 1180 deaths, mostly Muslims. Modi administration was accused of inaction for stopping the riots or even encouraging it. As an aftermath of the riots, there were calls for Modi to resign from his position as chief minister of Gujarat. The opposition parties stalled the national parliament over the issue. Even Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP), allies of the BJP, asked for Modi's resignation. Modi submitted his resignation to the Governor and recommended the dissolution of the 10th Gujarat Legislative Assembly. In the following state re-elections the BJP, led by Modi, won 127 seats in the 182-member assembly.
In April 2009, the Supreme Court of India appointed a special team of investigators to look into the role Modi had played in the alleged anti-Muslim conspiracy. The team was appointed in response to the complaint of Jakia Jafri, the widow of ex-Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was murdered in the riots. In December 2010, a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in its report to the Supreme Court seeking answers pertaining to the Ehsan Jafri case, submitted that they had found no evidence against Narendra Modi.
However in February 2011, the Times of India reported that a confidential report from the SIT indicted Modi on several counts of alleged complicity in the Gujarat riots of 2002. Other sources have noted that the SIT report does not indict Modi for the riots due to lack of evidence. The Indian Express too said the report did not find any Modi involvement in the violence, though it did accuse him of watering down the seriousness of the situation. According to the Hindu, the report not only found that Modi tried to water down the seriousness of the situation, but Modi also implicitly justified the killings of Muslims, and failed to condemn the attacks on them. The Bharatiya Janata Party demanded an investigation into the publication of the report, claiming the leak was politically motivated.
The apex court refused to pass any order on the case and referred it to the Ahmedabad magistrate for a decision.
2007 elections
Modi made a speech at Mangrol in which he justified the fake Encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, During the election campaign In response to Sonia Gandhi's speech calling him a "merchant of death", and referred to Sohrabuddin's killing. For this speech the Election Commission of India, a constitutional body governing election proceedings in India, cautioned Modi as it considered it as indulging in an activity which may aggravate existing differences between different communities. Modi won the election and continued his post as the Chief Minister Of Gujarat.Mr.Narendra Modi has got clear majority with 122 seats out of 182 total assembly seats.
Views and opinions
Modi's position on terrorism
On 18 July 2006 Modi delivered a speech criticizing Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "for his reluctance to revive anti-terror legislations" like the Prevention of Terrorism Act. He asked the Centre to empower states to invoke tougher laws in the wake of the blasts in Mumbai. Quoting Modi:
“ Terrorism is worse than a war. A terrorist has no rules. A terrorist decides when, how, where and whom to kill. India has lost more people in terror attacks than in its wars.
Narendra Modi has frequently commented that if the BJP came to power at the Centre, they will honor the 2004 Supreme Court judgement to hang Afzal Guru. Afzal was convicted of terrorism in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack in 2004 by the Supreme Court of India and is in Tihar Jail.
During the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, on Thursday 27 November, Narendra Modi held a meeting to discuss waterfront security along the coastline.[40] At the conclusion of the meeting, it was decided that a number of steps be taken to improve security:
Increase the number of police stations along the coast to 50 (from 10)
Increase the number of police to 1500 from 250
30 modern high-speed surveillance boats.
2009 Lok Sabha elections
Although the BJP narrowly managed to win majority of the seats in Gujarat, the loss of the Rajkot seat, after almost 20 years of control, was unexpected. Prominent politicians like Sharad Yadav commented that the BJP's projection of Modi as a future Prime Minister affected its performance in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.Furthermore BJP criticism of Modi worries Gujarat leaders.
Personal life
Modi was born to a middle class family in Devanagari in Mehsana district of what was then Bombay State, India. During the Indo-Pak war in the mid sixties, even as a young boy, he claims to have volunteered to serve the soldiers in transit at railway stations{. As a young man, he joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a student organization and was involved in the anti-corruption Nav Nirmāṇ ("Reconstruction") Movement. After working as a full time organizer for the organization, he was later nominated as its representative in the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is a member of the Hindu nationalist right wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). As a teenager Modi used to run a tea stall with his brother. Modi completed his schooling in Vadnagar. He earned a masters degree in Political Science from Gujarat University.
Awards and recognitions
30 January 2006 – In a nationwide survey conducted by India Today, Narendra Modi was declared the Best Chief Minister in the country.
5 February 2007 – Adjudged the best CM for the third time in the nationwide survey conducted by India Today – ORG Marg, a unique achievement for any CM during a 5-year tenure.
25 August 2009 – Chosen as The Asian Winner of the fDi Personality of the Year Awards for 2009 by fDi Magazine. The award was however withdrawn and awarded to the Gujarat state instead.
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