Narendra Damodardas Modi

                                         Narendra Damodardas Modi

 

Having assumed office as India's 14th prime minister in May 2014, Narendra Damodardas Modi (Gujarati: [nend diamonds modi]; born September 17, 1950) is an Indian politician. From 2001 to 2014, Modi served as Gujarat's chief minister. He is currently Varanasi's Member of Parliament (MP). He is a supporter of both the right-wing paramilitary Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The longest-serving prime minister who is not a member of the Indian National Congress is he.

 

In northern Gujarat's Vadnagar, where he was born and nurtured, Modi earned his secondary education. When he was eight years old, the RSS was introduced to him. There is no reliable confirmation of his claim that he assisted his father in selling tea at the Vadnagar train station. He married Jashodaben Modi at the age of 18, deserted her soon after, and only acknowledged her officially four decades later when forced to do so by law. In Gujarat, Modi started working for the RSS full-time in 1971. He was given to the BJP by the RSS in 1985, and from then until 2001, he occupied several positions in the party's leadership, eventually reaching the position of general secretary.

 

Modi was chosen as Gujarat's chief minister in 2001 and swiftly elected to the assembly. His administration has come under fire for its handling of the problem and is seen as having participated in the riots in Gujarat in 2002. According to government figures, a little over 1,000 persons were killed, with Muslims making up the majority of that number. Independent sources pegged the number of fatalities at 2,000, predominantly Muslims. No proof was discovered by a Special Investigation Team that the Supreme Court of India ordered in 2012 to begin legal action against him. While Modi's initiatives as chief minister were praised for promoting economic growth, they were also critiqued for not making a major difference in the state's health, poverty, or educational indicators.

 

The BJP won a parliamentary majority in the Indian general election of 2014 under Modi's leadership, which was a first for a party since 1984. His administration slashed spending on social welfare, healthcare, and education while increasing direct foreign investment. Modi launched a well-publicized drive for improved cleanliness, controversially started the demonetization of high-denomination banknotes in 2016, put in place the Goods and Services Tax, and undermined or repealed labor and environmental legislation.

 

Early life and education

 

Narendra Damodardas Modi was born on September 17, 1950, in Vadnagar, Mehsana district, Bombay State (modern-day Gujarat) to a Gujarati Hindu family of grocery store proprietors. He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi (about 1915-1989) and Hiraben Modi (around 1923-2022).

 

Modi claims that as a boy, he was forced to work in his father's tea business on the platform of Vadnagar railway station, although evidence from his neighbors contradicts this claim. During a protest against the government, his brother, Prahlad Modi, denied ever selling tea. According to him, his father raised six of his children by selling tea, and branding the Prime Minister a "chai wala" (tea seller) was a great error.

 

Modi finished his higher secondary education at Vadnagar in 1967, and his instructors described him as an average student and a sharp, brilliant debater with a passion for theatre. In theatre plays, he loved to play larger-than-life characters, which affected his political image.

 

Modi was introduced to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) when he was eight years old and began attending its local shakhas (training sessions). There, he met Lakshmanrao Inamdar, who admitted Modi to the RSS as a balswayamsevak (junior cadet) and became his political mentor. While studying with the RSS, Modi met Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, two Bharatiya Janata Sangh stalwarts who helped form the BJP's Gujarat section in 1980.

 

Narendra Modi's family arranged a betrothal to Jashodaben Chimanlal Modi, which resulted in their marriage when she was 17 and he was 18. He soon abandoned his wife and left the house. The pair never divorced, but his marriage was never mentioned in public for many decades.[54] Modi openly acknowledged his marriage to Jashodaben in April 2014, shortly before the national election in which he was elected. The marriage was sexless, and Modi kept it hidden since it would have prevented him from becoming a pracharak in the puritanical RSS.

 

Early political career

 

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi established a state of emergency in India in June 1975, which lasted until 1977. Many of her political opponents were imprisoned and opposition organizations were banned during this period, known as "the Emergency." Modi was named general secretary of the "Gujarat Lok Sangharsh Samiti," an RSS committee that coordinated opposition to the Gujarat Emergency. Shortly after, the RSS was outlawed. Modi was forced to go underground in Gujarat and regularly disguised himself as a monk and a Sikh to evade imprisonment. He became involved in the printing of anti-government booklets, sending them to Delhi, and coordinating protests. He was also active in the establishment of a network of safe houses for those wanted by the government, as well as fundraising for political refugees and activists. Modi produced a Gujarati-language book named Sangharsh Ma Gujarat (In the Struggles of Gujarat) during this time, which covers events during the Emergency. Modi met trade unionist and socialist activist George Fernandes, as well as several other national political figures while serving in this capacity.

 

In 1978, Modi became an RSS sambhag pracharak (regional organizer), supervising activities in Surat and Vadodara. In 1979, he moved to Delhi to work for the RSS, where he researched and published the RSS's history of the Emergency. He returned to Gujarat shortly after, and the RSS assigned him to the BJP in 1985. In 1987, Modi assisted in the organization of the BJP's campaign in the Ahmedabad municipal election, which the party easily won; according to biographers, Modi's planning was essential for the victory. The RSS decided to place its members in significant positions inside the party when L. K. Advani became president of the BJP in 1986; Modi's work during the Ahmedabad election contributed to his selection for this role.

 

Chief Minister of Gujarat

 

Keshubhai Patel's health was deteriorating in 2001, and the BJP lost a few state assembly seats in by-elections. Allegations of abuse of authority, corruption, and poor management were leveled, and Patel's reputation had suffered as a result of his administration's handling of the 2001 Bhuj earthquake. The BJP national leadership sought a new chief ministerial candidate, and Modi, who had expressed reservations about Patel's administration, was chosen as a substitute. Advani did not want to alienate Patel and was concerned about Modi's lack of government experience. Modi turned down an offer to be Patel's deputy chief minister, assuring Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee that he would "be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all." On October 3, 2001, Modi succeeded Patel as Gujarat Chief Minister, with the job of preparing the BJP for the approaching December 2002 election. Modi was sworn in on October 7, and he entered the Gujarat state assembly on February 24, 2002, after winning a by-election in the Rajkot II constituency, defeating Ashwin Mehta of the INC.

 

2002 Gujarat riots

 

On February 27, 2002, a train carrying hundreds of passengers caught fire in Godhra, killing roughly 60 persons. The train transported a huge number of Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya following a religious service at the demolished Babri Masjid site. Modi claimed responsibility for the tragedy in a public declaration. The following day, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad declared a bandh (general strike) throughout the state. During the bandh, riots broke out, and anti-Muslim violence swept throughout Gujarat. The government's decision to transport the bodies of the train victims from Godhra to Ahmedabad fueled the unrest even further. According to the state administration, 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed during the riots; independent sources estimate the death toll at around 2,000 people, the vast majority of whom were Muslims. Around 150,000 individuals were forced to flee to refugee camps. Among the victims were numerous women and children; the abuse included mass rapes and female genital mutilation.

 

Later terms as Chief Minister

 

Following the violence, politicians from within and outside the state, including leaders of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Telugu Desam Party—partners in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance coalition—called for Modi to resign as chief minister, and opposition parties stalled Parliament over the issue. Modi presented his resignation at the BJP national executive conference in Goa in April 2002, but it was not accepted. Despite objections from the election commissioner, who claimed that many voters were yet to be relocated, Modi was successful in moving the election to December 2002. The BJP gained 127 seats in the 182-member assembly in the election. During his campaign, Modi used anti-Muslim rhetoric extensively, and the BJP benefited from voter religious divisiveness. Modi presented criticism of his government for human rights breaches as an attack on Gujarati pride, a strategy that resulted in the BJP gaining 127 of the 182 seats in the state assembly, a two-thirds majority. He defeated Congress candidate Yatin Oza in the Maninagar constituency. Modi was sworn in for a second term on December 22, 2002.

 

The government's rhetoric moved from Hindutva to Gujarat's economic development during Modi's second term. He limited the power of Sangh Parivar institutions like Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). When the BKS held a farmers' protest, Modi ordered their eviction from state-provided housing, and his decision to demolish 200 illegal temples in Gandhinagar widened the schism with the VHP. Modi maintained ties with some Hindu nationalists. He wrote the preface to Dinanath Batra's 2014 textbook, which made the dubious assertion that ancient India possessed technologies such as test-tube babies.