Narendra Modi

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Narendra Modi

14th 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 forVaranasi

Incumbent

Assumed office
16 May 2014

Murli Manohar Joshi

Preceded by

Member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly for Maninagar

In office
1 January 2002 16 May 2014

Preceded by

Kamlesh Patel

Succeeded by

Suresh Patel

Personal details

Narendra Damodardas Modi

Born

17 September 1950 (age 66)

Vadnagar, Bombay State(presently Gujarat), India

Political party

Bharatiya Janata Party

Spouse(s)

Jashodaben Modi (m. 1968)(estranged)

Residence

7, Lok Kalyan Marg, New Delhi

Alma mater

Religion

University of Delhi

Gujarat University

Hinduism

Signature

Website

Official website

Government website

This article is part of a series about

Narendra Modi

Early life and education

Public image

Early political career

Gujarat Legislative Assembly

2002

2007

2012

Prime Minister of India

BJP campaign for Indian general elections, 2014

Modi Aane Wala Hai

Swearing-in ceremony

Council of Ministers

Timeline
Mann Ki Baat

Global Contributions

Foreign policy

Asian

South Asian

Middle Eastern

Neighbourhood first

Act East policy

Trips abroad

IndiaPacific Islands Forum

Yoga Day

New Development Bank

Solar alliance

SAARC Satellite
World Hindi Secretariat

National

Union Budgets

2014

2015

2016

Railway Budgets

2014

2015

2016

Antyodaya

Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao

Sukanya Samriddhi

Diamond Quadrilateral

DELP

HRIDAY

Housing for All

Jeevan Pramaan

Jan Dhan Yojana

Mission Indradhanush

Mudra Yojana

Jeevan Jyoti

Krishi Sinchai

Suraksha Bima

Atal Pension Yojana

Adarsh Gram Yojana

Gram Jyoti

OROP
Soil health cards

UDAY

Ujjwala

Projects

Bharatmala

High-speed rail in India

Sagar Mala
Setu Bharatam

Campaigns
Accessible India

Digital India

Make in India

Swachh Bharat

Skill India
Startup India

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan

Missions

AMRUT

Smart cities
TB-Mission 2020

Establishments
NITI Aayog

Statue of Unity

War Memorial

MUDRA Bank

Laws

Aadhaar Act
Black Money Act

Goods and Services Tax Bill

National Waterways Act

Real Estate Act

Road Transport and Safety Bill

Securities Laws Act

Works

Operation Raahat

Narendra Damodardas Modi (Gujarati:

] ( listen), born 17 September
1950) is the 14th and current Prime Minister of India, in office since 26 May 2014. Modi, a leader of
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was the Chief Minister ofGujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is
the Member of Parliament 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), for the first time
since 1984 general elections.
[1][2]

[3]

Since Modi's taking office as Prime Minister, his administration has focused on reforming and
modernising India's infrastructure and government, reducing bureaucracy, encouraging increased
foreign direct investment, improving national standards of health and sanitation and improving
foreign relations. Earlier, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi's economic policies (credited with
encouraging economic growth in Gujarat) have been praised, although his administration has been
criticised for failing to significantly improve the human development in the state and for failing to
prevent the 2002 Gujarat riots.
A Hindu nationalist and member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS), Modi remains a controversial figure domestically and internationally.
[4]

[5]

[6][7][8]

[9]

[10][11][12]

[10][13][14][15][16][17][18]

Contents

1Early life and education

2Early political career, 19752001
3Chief Minister of Gujarat (200114)

3.1First term, 200102

3.1.12002 Gujarat riots

3.1.22002 election

3.2Second term, 200207

3.3Third term, 200712

3.2.12007 election

o
o

5.1Economic policies
5.2Health and sanitation policies
5.3Defence policy
5.4War on terrorism
5.5IT policy
5.6International diplomacy

6Personal life
7Image
8Books
9Awards and recognition
9.1State honours

10References

o
o
o

3.5International diplomacy

5Prime Minister (2014present)

3.3.2Development debate

3.4Fourth term, 201214

42014 Indian general election

o
o
o
o
o
o

3.3.1Projects

10.1Notes
10.2Citations
10.3Sources

11Further reading
12External links

Early life and education

Narendra Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar, Mehsana
district, Bombay State (present-day Gujarat). He was the third of six children born to Damodardas
Mulchand Modi and Hiraben Modi. Modi's family belonged to the Modh-Ghanchi (oil-presser)
community, which is categorised as an Other Backward Class by the Indian government.
[19]

[20][21]

[22][23]

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. Modi 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. Modi had an early gift for rhetoric in debates, and this was noted by his teachers and
students. Modi preferred playing larger-than-life characters in theatrical productions, which has
influenced his political image.
[24][25]

[24]

[26]

[27][28]

Modi with his mother, Hiraben, on his 63rd birthday on 17 September 2013.

At age eight, Modi discovered the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and began attending its
local shakhas (training sessions). There, Modi met Lakshmanrao Inamdar, popularly known as Vakil
Saheb, who inducted him as abalswayamsevak (junior cadet) for RSS and became his political
mentor. While Modi was training with the RSS, he also met Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal
Jaghda, Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders who were founding members of the BJP's Gujarat unit in
1980.
[29]

[30][31]

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. The resulting familial tensions
contributed to his decision to leave home in 1967.
[32]

[33]

Modi spent the ensuing two years travelling across Northern and North-eastern India, though few
details of where he went have emerged. 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. Modi remained only a short time at
each, since he lacked the required college education.
"Modi's life is said to have Vivekananda's
deep influence. People close to Modi have often been quoted, saying that Modi has molded many
aspects of his life as Vivekananda's."
[34]

[35][36][37]

[38]

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. Modi 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. Sometime in late 1969 or early 1970, Modi returned to
Vadnagar for a brief visit before leaving again for Ahmedabad. There, Modi lived with his uncle,
working in the latter's canteen at the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation.
[39]

[40]

[41]

[42][43]

In Ahmedabad, Modi renewed his acquaintance with Inamdar, who was based at Hedgewar Bhavan
(RSS headquarters) in the city.
After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he stopped working for his
uncle and became a full-time pracharak (campaigner) for the RSS. In 1978, Modi became an
RSS sambhag pracharak (regional organiser), and received a degree in Political Science after
a distance-education course from Delhi University. Five years later, he received a Master of
Arts degree in political science from Gujarat University in 1982.
[44][45][46]

[43]

[47][48]

[49][50]

Early political career, 19752001

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. 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 travelled in disguise to avoid arrest. He became involved in printing pamphlets opposing
the government, sending them to Delhi and organising demonstrations.
During this period, Modi
wrote a book in Gujarati, Sangharsh ma Gujarat (The Struggles of Gujarat), describing events during
the Emergency.
[51][52]

[24][53][54][55]

[56][57]

He was assigned by the RSS to the BJP in 1985. In 1988, Modi was elected organising secretary of
the party's Gujarat unit, marking his entrance into electoral politics. He rose within the party,
helping organise L. K. Advani's 1990 Ram Rath Yatra in 1990 and Murli Manohar Joshi's 1991
92 Ekta Yatra (Journey for Unity). As party secretary, Modi's electoral strategy was considered
central to BJP victory in the 1995 state assembly elections.
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. 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. 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
[30]

[47][58]

[24][59]

[30][60][61]

[60][62]

[24]

in the 1998 elections,

that year.

[60][63]

and Modi was promoted to BJP general secretary (organisation) in May of

[64]

Chief Minister of Gujarat (200114)

Chief Minister Modi and his cabinet ministers at a Planning Commissionmeeting in New Delhi, 2013.

In 2001, Patel's health was failing and the BJP had lost seats in the by-elections. Allegations of
abuse of power, corruption and poor administration were made, and Patel's standing had been
damaged by his administration's handling of the 2001 Bhuj earthquake.
The BJP national
leadership sought a new candidate for chief minister, and Modi (who had expressed misgivings
about Patel's administration) was chosen as a replacement. Although Advani did not want to
ostracise Patel and was concerned about Modi's lack of experience in government, Modi declined an
offer to be Patel's deputy chief minister and told Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee he was "going to
be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all". On 3 October 2001 he replaced Patel as Chief Minister
of Gujarat, with the responsibility of preparing the BJP for the December 2002 elections. As Chief
Minister, Modi favoured privatisation and small government; this was at odds with political
commentator Aditi Phadnis' description of the RSS as anti-privatisation and anti-globalisation.
[60][65][66]

[24]

[67][68]

[65]

First term, 200102

On 7 October 2001, Modi was administered the oath of office. On 24 February 2002 he won a byelection to the Rajkot II assembly constituency, defeating Ashwin Mehta of the Indian National
Congress (INC) by 14,728 votes.
[69]

[70]

2002 Gujarat riots

Main article: 2002 Gujarat riots

On 27 February 2002, a train with several hundred passengers, was burned near Godhra killing
about 60 people. The train carried a large number of Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya after a
religious ceremony at the site of the demolished Babri Masjid. In the wake of rumours that the fire
was set by Muslim arsonists, anti-Muslim violence spread through Gujarat. Estimates of that death
toll ranged from 900 to over 2,000, with several thousand injured. 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, 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).
Modi's decision to move the bodies of the Kar Sevak train victims from Godhra to
Ahmedabad was criticised for inflaming the violence.
[a]

[73][74]

[75]

[76][77]

[78][79]

[78][79][80]

[81][82]

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).
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. The SIT questioned Modi in March 2010;
in May, it presented to the court a report finding no evidence to substantiate the allegations. 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
[80][83][84]

[83][85]

[83][86]

documents used as evidence. 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][88]

[89]

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.
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." Distinguished
Indian lawyer Ram Jethmalani applauded Modi's efforts during 2002 riots. In 2012 Maya Kodnani, a
minister in Modi's government from 2007 to 2009, was convicted of participation in theNaroda Patiya
massacre during the 2002 riots. Kodnani was the first woman and the first MLA to be convicted in
a Godhra-riots case. Although Modi's government had announced that it would seek the death
penalty for Kodnani on appeal, in 2013 it retreated from that stance.
[90][91][92]

[93]

[94]

[95][96]

[97]

[98][99][100]

Later in 2002, Modi said the way in which he had handled the media was his only regret regarding
the episode. He subsequently claimed that some journalists at India's NDTV channel had acted
irresponsibly in their coverage of the events.
[101]

[102]

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. Modi submitted his resignation, which was not accepted, at the
April 2002 BJP national executive meeting in Goa. His cabinet had a 19 July 2002 emergency
meeting, offered its resignation to the Gujarat Governor S. S. Bhandari and the assembly was
dissolved.
In the subsequent elections, the BJP won 127 seats in the 182-member
assembly. Although Modi later denied it, he made significant use of anti-Muslim rhetoric during his
campaign.
He won the Maninagar constituency, receiving 1,13,589 of 1,54,981 votes and
defeating INC candidate Yatin Oza by 75,333 votes. On 22 December 2002, Bhandari swore Modi
in for a second term.
[103]

[104]

[105][106]

[107]

[108][109][110][111]

[112]

[113]

Second term, 200207

Modi with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002.

After accusations of anti-Muslim rhetoric during the campaign, during Modi's second term his
emphasis shifted from Hindutva to Gujarat's economic development.
He curtailed the influence
of Sangh Parivar organisations such as the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) and the Vishva Hindu
Parishad (VHP), entrenched in the state after the decline of Ahmedabad's textile industry, and
dropped Gordhan Zadafia (an ally of former Sangh co-worker and VHP state chief Praveen Togadia)
from his cabinet. When the BKS staged a farmers' demonstration Modi ordered their eviction from
state-provided houses, and his decision to demolish 200 illegal temples in Gandhinagar deepened
[65][108]

[114]

[65]

the rift with the VHP.

Sangh organisations were no longer consulted or informed in advance
about Modi's administrative decisions.
[114][115]

[114]

His 200207 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". He established financial and technology parks in Gujarat and during the
2007 Vibrant Gujaratsummit, real-estate investment deals worth 6.6 trillion were signed in the
state.
[65]

[65]

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)
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]

[118][119]

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. On 18 July 2006, Modi criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh " ... for
his reluctance to revive anti-terror legislation" such as the 2002Prevention of Terrorism Act. He
asked the national government to allow states to invoke tougher laws in the wake of the 2006
Mumbai blasts and demanded the execution of Afzal Guru, a collaborator with Pakistani jihadists
who was convicted of terrorism for his involvement in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack. After the
November 2008 Mumbai attacks Modi held a meeting to discuss the security of Gujarat's 1,600kilometre (990 mi)-long coastline, resulting in government authorisation of 30 high-speed
surveillance boats. In July 2007 Modi completed 2,063 consecutive days as chief minister of
Gujarat (making him the longest-serving holder of that post), and the BJP won 122 of 182 stateassembly seats in that year's election.
[120]

[121]

[122]

[123][b]

[124]

[125]

[126]

Third term, 200712

Projects

Sardar Sarovar Dam during a 2006 height increase.

Keshubhai Patel and Modi's BJP governments supported NGOs and communities in the creation of
groundwater-conservation projects; according to Tushaar Shah, Gujarat (a semi-arid state) was " ...
never known for agrarian dynamism". By December 2008 500,000 structures were built, of which
113,738 were check dams. While most check-dam impoundments dried up during the pre-monsoon
period, they helped monsoon rains recharge the aquifers beneath them. Sixty of the
112 tehsilswhich were found to have depleted the water table in 2004 had regained their normal
groundwater levels by 2010, and Gujarat increased its groundwater levels when they were falling in
all other Indian states. As a result, the state's production of genetically modified Bt cotton (which
could now be irrigated with tube wells) increased to become the largest in India. The boom in
cotton production and its semi-arid land use saw Gujarat's agricultural growth increase to 9.6
[127]

[128]

[127]

[129]

percent from 2001 to 2007. Although public irrigation measures in central and southern Gujarat
(such as the Sardar Sarovar Dam) have been less successful, from 2001 to 2010 Gujarat recorded
an agricultural growth rate of 10.97 percent the highest of any state. However, sociologists have
pointed out that the growth rate under the 199297 INC government was 12.9 percent.
[130]

[127]

[129]

[131]

Modi at a hospital dedication in Kheda district, 2013.

The Modi government brought electricity to every village in Gujarat, although according to Dipankar
Banerjee all but 170 villages had been electrified under the INC administration. Modi significantly
changed the state's system of power distribution, greatly impacting farmers. Gujarat expanded
the Jyotigram Yojana scheme, in which agricultural electricity was separated from other rural
electricity; the agricultural electricity was rationed to fit scheduled irrigation demands, reducing its
cost. Although early protests by farmers ended when those who benefited found that their electricity
supply had stabilised, according to an assessment study corporations and large farmers benefited
from the policy at the expense of small farmers and labourers.
[131]

[127]

[132]

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.
[133][134]

He celebrated the year 2012 as Swami Vivekan