" Secularism is a term interpreted in many different ways by different people. For me, it has always been something very simple – putting India First."
- Narendra Modi
To his loyalists, Modi is a decisive leader deserving a bigger platform than Gujarat, deserving, indeed, of all India, and of the prime — rather than just a chief — ministership. To his critics, Modi is a strongman who presided over the worst episode of Hindu-Muslim violence in India since Partition.
Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is the current chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat. Narendra Damodardas Modi was born in a middle-class family at Vadnagar, he was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife Heeraben. He has been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood, having an interest in politics since adolescence. During the Indo-Pak war in the mid sixties, even as a young boy, he volunteered to serve the soldiers in transit at railway stations. As a teenager Modi used to run a tea stall with his brother. He holds a master's degree in political science. Endowed with excellent organizational capability and a rich insight into human psychology, he was elected as the student leader of Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (All India Students’ Council) and played a prominent role in various socio-political movements in Gujarat. In 1998, he was chosen by L. K. Advani, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to direct the election campaign in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
He entered mainstream politics in 1987 by joining the BJP. Just within a year, he was elevated to the level of General Secretary of the Gujarat unit. By that time he had already acquired a reputation for being a highly efficient organizer. He took up the challenging task of energizing the party cadres in right earnest. 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. Modi was recognized as the master planner between 1988 and 1995, who had successfully carried out the necessary groundwork for making BJP the ruling party of the state.
To note a statement of Lal Krishna Advani, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party about Modi “a leader who, after being subjected to a malicious and prolonged campaign of vilification, has been able to impress even his critics with his determination, single – minded focus, integrity and a wide array of achievements in a relatively short time”.
In 2001, Narendra Modi was chosen by the party to be the Chief Minister of Gujarat after the removal of chief minister Keshubhai Patel. When Modi ‘s government was sworn in on October 7, 2001, the economy of Gujarat was reeling under the adverse effects of several natural calamities, including a massive earthquake in January 2001. Narendra Modi decided to take the bull by its horns. In the December 2002 general elections, Modi government was voted back to power with a massive majority of 128 seats in a house of 182. When he was sworn-in as the chief minister of Gujarat for the second time, the ceremony had to be held in an open-air stadium because of the sheer number of people who wanted to watch and hear the leader.
Successful raising of the height of the Narmada Dam from 95 to 110.64 metres is one of the most substantial accomplishments of his government that resulted in increased irrigation, water supplies and hydroelectric power. For the 500,000 government employees in Gujarat, Modi has launched a motivated training programme. His initiatives such as Krishi Mahotsav, Chiranjeevi Yojana, Matru Vandana, Beti Bachao campaign (save the girl child), Jyotigram Yojana, and Karmayogi Abhiyan etc. aim at multi-dimensional development of Gujarat. The success of the Vibrant Gujarat Summits demonstrates the international standing of Narendra Modi; over a hundred countries participate in the Summit and they bring investment and economic growth to Gujarat. At the 2011 Vibrant Gujarat Summit, the state’s now-famous investment biennale, he got businesses from across the world to sign nearly 8,000 MoUs committing $460 billion in investments. Tata Motors and General Motors already operate out of Gujarat. Ford Motors, Peugeot and Maruti are planning new plants.
Under his leadership Gujarat has bagged several awards and accolades from all over the world – including UN Sasakawa Award for disaster reduction, Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) award for innovations in governance, UNESCO award, CSI award for e-Governance etc.
Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is the current chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat. Narendra Damodardas Modi was born in a middle-class family at Vadnagar, he was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife Heeraben. He has been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood, having an interest in politics since adolescence. During the Indo-Pak war in the mid sixties, even as a young boy, he volunteered to serve the soldiers in transit at railway stations. As a teenager Modi used to run a tea stall with his brother. He holds a master's degree in political science. Endowed with excellent organizational capability and a rich insight into human psychology, he was elected as the student leader of Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (All India Students’ Council) and played a prominent role in various socio-political movements in Gujarat. In 1998, he was chosen by L. K. Advani, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to direct the election campaign in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
He entered mainstream politics in 1987 by joining the BJP. Just within a year, he was elevated to the level of General Secretary of the Gujarat unit. By that time he had already acquired a reputation for being a highly efficient organizer. He took up the challenging task of energizing the party cadres in right earnest. 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. Modi was recognized as the master planner between 1988 and 1995, who had successfully carried out the necessary groundwork for making BJP the ruling party of the state.
To note a statement of Lal Krishna Advani, a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party about Modi “a leader who, after being subjected to a malicious and prolonged campaign of vilification, has been able to impress even his critics with his determination, single – minded focus, integrity and a wide array of achievements in a relatively short time”.
In 2001, Narendra Modi was chosen by the party to be the Chief Minister of Gujarat after the removal of chief minister Keshubhai Patel. When Modi ‘s government was sworn in on October 7, 2001, the economy of Gujarat was reeling under the adverse effects of several natural calamities, including a massive earthquake in January 2001. Narendra Modi decided to take the bull by its horns. In the December 2002 general elections, Modi government was voted back to power with a massive majority of 128 seats in a house of 182. When he was sworn-in as the chief minister of Gujarat for the second time, the ceremony had to be held in an open-air stadium because of the sheer number of people who wanted to watch and hear the leader.
Successful raising of the height of the Narmada Dam from 95 to 110.64 metres is one of the most substantial accomplishments of his government that resulted in increased irrigation, water supplies and hydroelectric power. For the 500,000 government employees in Gujarat, Modi has launched a motivated training programme. His initiatives such as Krishi Mahotsav, Chiranjeevi Yojana, Matru Vandana, Beti Bachao campaign (save the girl child), Jyotigram Yojana, and Karmayogi Abhiyan etc. aim at multi-dimensional development of Gujarat. The success of the Vibrant Gujarat Summits demonstrates the international standing of Narendra Modi; over a hundred countries participate in the Summit and they bring investment and economic growth to Gujarat. At the 2011 Vibrant Gujarat Summit, the state’s now-famous investment biennale, he got businesses from across the world to sign nearly 8,000 MoUs committing $460 billion in investments. Tata Motors and General Motors already operate out of Gujarat. Ford Motors, Peugeot and Maruti are planning new plants.
Under his leadership Gujarat has bagged several awards and accolades from all over the world – including UN Sasakawa Award for disaster reduction, Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) award for innovations in governance, UNESCO award, CSI award for e-Governance etc.
Godhra Riots, 2002
On Feb. 27, 2002, two train carriages carrying activists from a Hindu nationalist group were set on fire at the Gujarati town of Godhra, killing 59. A wave of organized retaliation rolled across Gujarat, in which as many as 2,000 Muslim men, women and children were killed, many mutilated, raped and burned alive; thousands of Muslim homes, business and shrines were destroyed. In the decade since that carnage, dozens of individual rioters have been convicted, but the state has never had to answer accusations that it failed to halt the violence: no top officials have been held accountable or had conspiracy charges proved against them. One case naming Modi remains open, a notorious incident in which nearly 200 people were killed while taking shelter in the home of a Muslim politician, Ehsan Jafri, whose desperate calls to government officials for protection were ignored. Modi denies ever hearing from Jafri, who was dismembered and killed.
On 27 February 2002, a train burning in the town of Godhra lead to 59 deaths, most of them Hindu pilgrims and religious workers returning from the holy city of Ayodhya. Local Muslim leaders have been found guilty of burning the train Riots broke out in the state as the act was caused by Muslims in which 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were ultimately killed. The Modi administration was accused of insufficient action over the riots and suspected of encouraging them. Years later, a sting operation by an investigative journalist showed videos of many prominent Hindu leaders and politicians boasting of their involvement in the killings and the complicity of Narenda Modi in the riots. However there were several inaccuracies in the statements that questioned the sting operation. Babu Bajrani and Suresh Richard in the statements said that Narendra Modi visited Naroda Patiya one day after the massacre to thank them while official record showed that Naredra Modi didn't visit Naroda Patiya. VHP activist, Ramesh Dave told Tehelka reporter that S.K.Gadhvi, one of the divisional superintendents of Police killed five Muslims in Dariapur area as promised to him. But the official records show that Gadhvi was only posted in Dariapur one month after the riots. During his tenure no such incident took place in Dariapur. On 29 August 2012, an Indian court found a democratically elected legislature guilty of the crime. On the eve of this decision, Modi refused to apologize and rejected renewed calls for his resignation.
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 Zakia 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. 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. In April 2012, a Special Investigation Team absolved Modi of any involvement in the Gulberg massacre, arguably the worst episode of the riots. On 7 May 2012, the Supreme Court-appointed amicus curiae, Raju Ramachandran observed that Modi can be prosecuted under sections 153 A (1) (a) & (b), 153 B (1), 166 and 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code for promoting enmity among different groups during the 2002 Gujarat riots. His main contention was that the evidence be judged by a court of law and not the SIT, the SIT was required to investigate and not judge. However the amicus report has been criticised by the Special Investigation Team for relying heavily on the testimony of Sanjiv Bhatt.
On 27 February 2002, a train burning in the town of Godhra lead to 59 deaths, most of them Hindu pilgrims and religious workers returning from the holy city of Ayodhya. Local Muslim leaders have been found guilty of burning the train Riots broke out in the state as the act was caused by Muslims in which 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were ultimately killed. The Modi administration was accused of insufficient action over the riots and suspected of encouraging them. Years later, a sting operation by an investigative journalist showed videos of many prominent Hindu leaders and politicians boasting of their involvement in the killings and the complicity of Narenda Modi in the riots. However there were several inaccuracies in the statements that questioned the sting operation. Babu Bajrani and Suresh Richard in the statements said that Narendra Modi visited Naroda Patiya one day after the massacre to thank them while official record showed that Naredra Modi didn't visit Naroda Patiya. VHP activist, Ramesh Dave told Tehelka reporter that S.K.Gadhvi, one of the divisional superintendents of Police killed five Muslims in Dariapur area as promised to him. But the official records show that Gadhvi was only posted in Dariapur one month after the riots. During his tenure no such incident took place in Dariapur. On 29 August 2012, an Indian court found a democratically elected legislature guilty of the crime. On the eve of this decision, Modi refused to apologize and rejected renewed calls for his resignation.
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 Zakia 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. 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. In April 2012, a Special Investigation Team absolved Modi of any involvement in the Gulberg massacre, arguably the worst episode of the riots. On 7 May 2012, the Supreme Court-appointed amicus curiae, Raju Ramachandran observed that Modi can be prosecuted under sections 153 A (1) (a) & (b), 153 B (1), 166 and 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code for promoting enmity among different groups during the 2002 Gujarat riots. His main contention was that the evidence be judged by a court of law and not the SIT, the SIT was required to investigate and not judge. However the amicus report has been criticised by the Special Investigation Team for relying heavily on the testimony of Sanjiv Bhatt.
Trivia
- The biggest mystery of Narendra Modi’s life is his relationship status. The world knows him as a ‘bachelor’ but it has been contested by some of his critics who point out that he was once married to ‘Jashodaben’.
- Modi wanted to become a sanyasi when he was a child. He ran away from home after completing his school education. He reached Himalayas and wandered aimlessly and stayed with unknown but yogic Sadhus for months.
- Narendra Modi has done a three-month course in US on public relations and image management.
- Modi is a prolific writer and poet.
Recognitions
- Best Chief Minister according to the India Today Opinion poll.
- CNBC TV 18 Award for‘outstanding contribution to the cause of Indian business.
- Computer Society of India conferred him with the award and title of ‘eRatna’ for his contribution in the field of e-governance.
- ‘Award of Excellence- Departmental Level’ at the CSI Nihilent e-Governance Awards 2011.
- ‘Best Government to Citizen Initiative of the Year Award’ at the eIndia Summit.
References: Wikipedia; Time; narendramodi.in; India TV News; winentrance.com
Photos Courtesy: Google Images
Photos Courtesy: Google Images