Narendra modi
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| Narendra Modi | |
|---|---|
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| 15th Prime Minister of India | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 26 May 2014 |
|
| President | Pranab Mukherjee |
| Preceded by | Manmohan Singh |
| 14th Chief Minister of Gujarat | |
| In office 7 October 2001 – 22 May 2014 |
|
| Governor | Sunder Singh Bhandari Kailashpati Mishra Balram Jakhar Nawal Kishore Sharma S. C. Jamir Kamla Beniwal |
| Preceded by | Keshubhai Patel |
| Succeeded by | Anandiben Patel |
| Member of the Indian Parliament for Varanasi |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 16 May 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Murli Manohar Joshi |
| Member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly for Maninagar |
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| In office 1 January 2002 – 16 May 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Kamlesh Patel |
| Succeeded by | Suresh Patel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Narendra Damodardas Modi 17 September 1950 Vadnagar, Bombay State, India |
| Political party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Spouse(s) | Jashodaben Narendrabhai Modi (m. 1968; separated) |
| Residence | 7, Race Course Road |
| Alma mater | University of Delhi Gujarat University |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Official website Government website |
listen), born 17 September 1950) is the 15th and current Prime Minister of India, in office since 26 May 2014.[1][2] Modi, a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament (MP) from Varanasi. He led the BJP in the 2014 general election, which gave the party a majority in the Lok Sabha
(the lower house of the Indian parliament) – a first for any party
since 1984 – and was credited for October 2014 BJP electoral victories
in the states of Haryana and Maharashtra.[3]The prime minister, a Hindu nationalist and a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)[4][5] is a controversial figure domestically and internationally[6][7][8][9] because of criticism that, when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, his administration failed to prevent the 2002 Gujarat riots.[9][10] Modi's economic policies (credited with encouraging economic growth in Gujarat) have been praised,[11] although his administration has also been criticised for failing to significantly improve the human development in the state.[12]
Contents
Early life and education
Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar, Mehsana district, Bombay State (present-day Gujarat).[13][14] His family belonged to the Modh-Ghanchi-Teli (oil-presser) community,[15][16] which is categorised as an Other Backward Class by the Indian government.[17][18][19] He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand (1915-1989) and Heeraben Modi (b. c. 1920).[20][21][22] As a child Modi helped his father sell tea at the Vadnagar railway station, and later ran a tea stall with his brother near a bus terminus.[23][24] He completed his higher secondary education in Vadnagar in 1967, where a teacher described him as an average student and a keen debater with an interest in theatre.[23][25] An early gift for rhetoric in debates was noted by teachers and students.[26] Modi preferred playing larger-than-life characters in theatrical productions, which has influenced his political image.[27][28]
Modi with his mother, Heeraben, on his 63rd birthday in 17 September 2013.
Engaged while still a child to a local girl, Jashodaben Narendrabhai Modi, Modi rejected the arranged marriage at the same time he graduated from high school.[34] The resulting familial tensions contributed to his decision to leave home in 1967.[35] He spent the ensuing two years travelling across northern and north-eastern India, though few details of where he went have emerged.[36] In interviews, Modi has described visiting Hindu ashrams founded by Swami Vivekananda: the Belur Math near Kolkata, followed by the Advaita Ashrama in Almora and the Ramakrishna mission in Rajkot. He remained only a short time at each, since he lacked the required college education.[37][38][39] Reaching the Belur Math in the early summer of 1968 and being turned away, Modi wandered through Calcutta, West Bengal and Assam, stopping by Siliguri and Guwahati.[40] He then went to the Ramakrishna ashram in Almora, where he was again rejected, before travelling back to Gujarat via Delhi and Rajasthan in 1968-69.[41] Sometime in late 1969 or early 1970, Modi returned to Vadnagar for a brief visit before leaving again for Ahmedabad.[42] There he lived with his uncle, working in the latter's canteen at the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation.[43][44] In Ahmedabad Modi renewed his acquaintance with Inamdar, who was based at Hedgewar Bhavan (RSS headquarters) in the city.[30][31][45] After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he stopped working for his uncle and became a full–time pracharak (campaigner) for the RSS.[44] In 1978 Modi became an RSS sambhaag pracharak (regional organiser), and received a degree in political science after a distance-education course from Delhi University.[46][47] Five years later, he received a Master of Arts degree in political science from Gujarat University.[25][48]
Early political career
On 26 June 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India which lasted until 1977. During this period, many of her political opponents were jailed and opposition groups (including the RSS) were banned.[49][50] As pracharak in-charge of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, Modi was forced to go underground in Gujarat and frequently traveled in disguise to avoid arrest. He became involved in printing pamphlets opposing the government, sending them to Delhi and organising demonstrations.[23][51][52][53] During this period Modi wrote a Gujarati book, Sangharsh ma Gujarat (The Struggles of Gujarat), describing events during the Emergency.[54][55]He was assigned by the RSS to the BJP in 1985.[32] In 1988 Modi was elected organising secretary of the party's Gujarat unit, marking his entrance into electoral politics.[46][56] He rose within the party, helping organise L. K. Advani's 1990 Ayodhya Rath Yatra in 1990 and Murli Manohar Joshi's 1991–92 Ekta Yatra (Journey for Unity).[23][57] As party secretary, Modi's electoral strategy was considered central to BJP victory in the 1995 state assembly elections.[32][58][59] In November of that year Modi was elected BJP national secretary and transferred to New Delhi, where he assumed responsibility for party activities in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.[58][60] The following year, Shankersinh Vaghela (one of the most prominent BJP leaders in Gujarat) defected to the INC after losing his parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha elections.[23] Modi, on the selection committee for the 1998 Assembly elections in Gujarat, favoured supporters of BJP leader Keshubhai Patel over those supporting Vaghela to end factional division in the party. His strategy was credited as key to the BJP winning an overall majority in the 1998 elections,[58][61] and Modi was promoted to BJP general secretary (organisation) in May of that year.[62]
Chief Minister of Gujarat
Chief Minister Modi and his cabinet ministers at a Planning Commission meeting in New Delhi, 2013.
First term (2001–02)
On 7 October 2001, Modi was administered the oath of office.[67] He then won a 24 February 2002 Rajkot – II[clarification needed] assembly election, defeating Ashwin Mehta of the Indian National Congress (INC) by 14,728 votes.[68]2002 Gujarat riots
Main article: 2002 Gujarat riots
On 27 February 2002 a train with several hundred passengers,
including a large number of Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya after a
religious ceremony at the site of the demolished Babri Masjid,[69][70] was burned near Godhra; about 60 people were killed.[a] In the wake of rumours that the fire was set by Muslim arsonists, anti-Muslim violence spread through Gujarat.[73] Estimates of that death toll ranged from 900 to over 2,000, with several thousand injured.[74][75]
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,[76][77]
but human rights organisations, opposition parties and some media
accused the Gujarat government of taking insufficient action against the
riots (to the point of condoning them).[76][77][78] Modi's decision to move the bodies of the Kar Sevak train victims from Godhra to Ahmedabad was criticised for inflaming the violence.[79][80]In March 2008 the Supreme Court asked the state government to re-investigate nine cases from the 2002 riots (including the Gulbarg Society massacre), establishing a Special Investigation Team (SIT).[78][81][82] In response to a petition from Zakia Jafri (widow of Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre), in April 2009 the court asked the SIT to investigate her allegation that Modi and another minister were complicit in the killings.[81][83] The SIT questioned Modi in March 2010; in May, it presented to the court a report finding no evidence to substantiate the allegations.[81][84] In July 2011, amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran submitted his final report to the court: contrary to the SIT position, Modi could be prosecuted based on the available evidence. The team criticised Ramachandran's report for relying on testimony from Sanjiv Bhatt, who they said fabricated the documents used as evidence.[85][86] The Supreme Court gave the matter to the magistrate court, with the SIT examining Ramachandran's report. The team submitted its final report in March 2012 seeking closure of the case, with Zakia Jaffri filing a protest petition in response. In December 2013 the magistrate court rejected the protest petition, accepting the SIT's finding that there was no evidence against the chief minister.[87]
Modi's involvement in the 2002 events has continued to be debated. Several scholars have described them as a pogrom, while others have called them state terrorism.[88][89][90] Summarising academic views on the subject, Martha Nussbaum said: "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."[91] In 2012 Maya Kodnani, a minister in Modi's government from 2007 to 2009, was convicted of participation in the Naroda Patiya massacre during the 2002 riots.[92][93] Kodnani was the first woman and the first MLA to be convicted in a Godhra-riots case.[94] Although Modi's government had announced that it would seek the death penalty for Kodnani on appeal, in 2013 it retreated from that stance.[95][96][97]
Several months after the riots, New York Times reporter Celia Dugger asked Modi if he wished he had handled the riots any differently. He replied that his only regret was not handling the news media better,[98][99] accusing India's NDTV channel of journalistic irresponsibility.[100]
2002 election
Main article: Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, 2002
In the aftermath of the violence came widespread calls for Modi to
resign as chief minister from within and outside the state, including
leaders of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Telugu Desam Party (allies in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance coalition), and opposition parties stalled Parliament over the issue.[101] Modi submitted his resignation, which was not accepted, at the April 2002 BJP national executive meeting in Goa.[102]
His cabinet had a 19 July 2002 emergency meeting, offered its
resignation to the Gujarat Governor S. S. Bhandari and the assembly was
dissolved.[103][104] In the subsequent elections, the BJP won 127 seats in the 182-member assembly.[105] Although Modi later denied it, he made significant use of anti-Muslim rhetoric during his campaign.[106][107][108][109] He won the Maninagar constituency, receiving 1,13,589 of 1,54,981 votes and defeating INC candidate Yatin Oza by 75,333 votes.[110] On 22 December 2002, Bhandari swore Modi in for a second term.[111]Second term (2002–07)
Modi with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002.
His 2002–07 changes have led to Gujarat's description as an attractive investment destination. According to Aditi Phadnis, "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".[63] He established financial and technology parks in Gujarat and during the 2007 Vibrant Gujarat summit, real-estate investment deals worth ₹6.6 trillion were signed in the state.[63]
Despite his second-term focus on economic issues, Modi's relationship with Muslims continued to be criticised. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (who asked Modi for tolerance in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat violence and supported his resignation as chief minister)[114][115] distanced himself, reaching out to North Indian Muslims before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. After the elections Vajpayee called the violence in Gujarat a reason for the BJP's electoral defeat and said it had been a mistake to leave Modi in office after the riots.[116][117]
2007 election
Further information: Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, 2007
During the run-up to the 2007 assembly elections and the 2009 general election, the BJP ramped up its rhetoric on terrorism.[118] On 18 July 2006, Modi criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh " ... for his reluctance to revive anti-terror legislation" such as the 2002 Prevention of Terrorism Act. He asked the national government to allow states to invoke tougher laws in the wake of the 2006 Mumbai blasts[119] and demanded the execution of Afzal Guru,[120] a collaborator with Pakistani jihadists who was convicted of terrorism for his involvement in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack.[121][b] After the November 2008 Mumbai attacks Modi held a meeting to discuss the security of Gujarat's 1,600-kilometre (990 mi)-long coastline, resulting in government authorisation of 30 high–speed surveillance boats.[122]
In July 2007 Modi completed 2,063 consecutive days as chief minister of
Gujarat (making him the longest-serving holder of that post),[123] and the BJP won 122 of 182 state-assembly seats in that year's election.[124]Third term (2007–12)
Projects
Sardar Sarovar Dam during a 2006 height increase.
Modi at a hospital dedication in Kheda district.
Progress was made on the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City project, considered one of Modi's pet projects. Its first phase, consisting of two skyscrapers (GIFT One and Two), was completed in 2012.[131][132]
Development debate
Modi addressing graduates at Gujarat National Law University.
According to political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot, development in Gujarat has been limited to the urban middle class as rural residents and the lower castes have become increasingly marginalised. The state ranks 10th of the 21 Indian states in the Human Development Index, which he attributes to less rural development. Jaffrelot says that under Modi the number of families below the poverty line has increased and conditions for rural adivasi and dalits, in particular, have declined.[139] In July 2013 economics Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen expressed disapproval of Modi's governance record, saying that under his administration Gujarat's "record in education and healthcare is pretty bad".[140] However, economists Arvind Panagariya and Jagdish Bhagwati say that Gujarat's social indicators have improved from a lower baseline than that of other Indian states. According to them, Gujarat's performance in raising literacy rates has been superior to other states and the "rapid" improvement of health indicators is evidence that "its progress has not been poor by any means."[141]
Fourth term (2012–14)
Modi with Anandiben Patel at a meeting of BJP MLAs after his election as prime minister; Patel succeeded him as Gujarat chief minister.
Further information: Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, 2012
In the 2012 Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections, Modi won the
constituency of Maninagar by 86,373 votes over Shweta Bhatt, the INC
candidate and wife of Sanjiv Bhatt.[142] The BJP won 115 of the 182 seats, continuing its majority during his tenure[143] and allowing the party to form the government (as it had in Gujarat since 1995).[144]
In later by-elections the BJP won four more assembly seats and two Lok
Sabha seats held by the INC, although Modi did not campaign for its
candidates.[145] In 2013, the Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania cancelled a keynote video-conference speech by Modi following protests by Indian-Americans.[146] After his election as prime minister, Modi resigned as chief minister and surrendered his MLA seat from Maninagar on 21 May 2014 after a speech described as emotional. Anandiben Patel was selected as his replacement.[147]International diplomacy
To attract foreign investment to Gujarat when he was chief minister Modi visited China, Singapore and Japan,[148] travelling to China in November 2006 (to study the country's special economic zones, about to be implemented in Gujarat),[149] September 2007[150] and November 2011. A month after his 2011 visit the Chinese government released 13 Indian diamond traders charged with smuggling in Shenzhen, with Modi attributing their release to his diplomacy and statesmanship.[151][152]
Modi meeting the South Korean ambassador in Gandhinagar in 2013.
In 2011 the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry, impressed with development in Gujarat, invited Modi to visit Pakistan and address business leaders who asked him to consider a flight between Ahmedabad and Karachi because of the cultural and economic relationships between Gujarat and Sindh. Modi wanted to ease Pakistan's power crisis, (particularly in Sindh), and suggested that the country could follow the examples of the "Gujarat model" set by Gujarat Solar Park and the Kalpasar Project.[159] In an April 2014 statement described as "unexpected", senior Pakistani diplomats told The Daily Telegraph that Modi was their choice for prime Minister "as he could provide the strong leadership necessary for peace talks".[160]
Modi visited Japan in 2012. According to Ryohei Kasai, research fellow at the Center for South Asian Studies at Gifu Women's University, "There is a growing interest in Modi in Japan with much anticipation that he will reshape India by revitalising its economy and better governance. I believe Japan has an excellent relationship with him. Not only have successive Japanese ambassadors to India been regular guests in 'Vibrant Gujarat' investors' summit (organised biennially) but Japanese private companies also made a big amount of investment in the state."[161]
Campaign for Indian general election in 2014
Modi addressing a rally in Meerut during the 2014 campaign.
On 31 March 2013 Modi was appointed to the BJP parliamentary board, the highest decision-making body in the party,[164][165] and at the party's 9 June national executive meeting he was appointed chair of the BJP's central election campaign committee for the 2014 general election.[166] Senior leader and founding member Lal Krishna Advani resigned his party posts after the appointment in protest of leaders who were "concerned with their personal agendas". His resignation, which was described by The Times of India as "a protest against Narendra Modi's elevation as the chairman of the party's election committee", was withdrawn the following day at the urging of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.[167] In September 2013, the BJP announced that the chief minister would be their candidate for prime minister in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.[168]
Modi was a candidate in two constituencies: Varanasi and Vadodara.[169] During the campaign, he pledged to speed up government decision-making and remove bureaucratic hurdles which slowed development.[170] He won in both constituencies, defeating Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal in Varanasi and Madhusudan Mistry of the INC in Vadodara by 570,128 votes.[171] The BJP-led NDA won the general election overall and the INC experienced its worst-ever defeat.[172][173][174] Modi, who was unanimously elected leader of the BJP after his party's victory, was appointed prime minister by India's president.[175][176] To comply with the law that an MP cannot represent more than one constituency, he vacated the Vadodara seat.[177] In what CNN described as "India's first social media election", Modi used Twitter, Facebook, Google Hangouts and holograms for campaign appearances. His victory tweet was the most re-tweeted tweet in India.[178]
Prime Minister
Further information: Swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi
![[icon]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} |
This section requires expansion. (June 2015) |
Modi (far right) being sworn in as prime minister.
Smart Cities initiative
Modi launched a flagship scheme for developing 100 Smart cities on 25 June 2015[182]in his speech he said“For the first time in India, a challenge was being floated, in which the citizens of urban India could contribute in the formulation of development visions of their cities.”
International diplomacy
Further information: Foreign policy of Narendra Modi and List of Prime Ministerial trips made by Narendra Modi
Modi invited leaders of the SAARC countries to his swearing-in as prime minister to strengthen ties among its member states.[183]
Continuing his efforts to promote close relationships with neighbouring
countries, his first foreign visit as prime minister was to Bhutan. Modi visited Nepal on 8 August 2014,[184][185] and began a five-day trip to Japan on 30 August.[186] On 17 September, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in India; financial memoranda of understanding and cooperation agreements between the countries were signed,[187] which Modi called a new chapter in their economic relationship.[188] The prime minister had a successful visit to the United States in the last week of September, which led to an improvement in relations between India and the US.[189] In a 27 September address to the United Nations General Assembly Modi asked for the adoption of 21 June as International Yoga Day,[190] and a resolution doing so was approved by the 193-member body.Personal life
The third of six children, Modi has two elder brothers, Som (b. 1944) and Amrit (b. 1948). He has a younger sister, Vasanti (b. 1952) and two younger brothers, Prahlad (b. 1955) and Pankaj (b. 1958).[21]In accordance with Ghanchi tradition, Modi's marriage was arranged by his parents when he was a child. He was engaged at age 13 to Jashodaben Narendrabhai Modi, marrying her when he was 18. They spent little time together and grew apart when Modi began two years of travel, including visits to Hindu ashrams.[23][191] Reportedly, their marriage was never consummated and he kept it a secret because otherwise he could not have become a 'pracharak' in the puritan Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).[192][46] Although Modi kept his marriage secret for most of his career, he acknowledged his wife when he filed his nomination for a parliamentary seat in the 2014 general elections.[193][194]
Image
Main article: Public image of Narendra Modi
Modi wearing a suit with his name embroidered in the pinstripes.
Modi has also been called a fashion-icon with his signature, crisply ironed, half-sleeved tunic-shirt (dubbed the "Modi kurta"), brand-name accessories, and a suit with his name embroidered repeatedly in the pinstripes that he wore during a state visit by US President Barack Obama, drawing particular public and media attention, and sometimes criticism.[201][202][203]
Although he has been called a controversial, polarising and divisive figure by media sources,[204][205][206] British economist Jim O'Neill (author of "Building Better Global Economic BRICs") blogged that Modi is "good on economics" – one of the things "India desperately needs in a leader".[207] In August 2013, financial analyst Chris Wood of CLSA wrote in his weekly "Greed & fear" report: "The Indian stock market's greatest hope is the emergence of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate".[207]
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