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Narendra Modi
Chief Minister of Gujarat
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Constituency	Maninagar
Born	September 17, 1950 (1950-09-17) (age 57) Vadnagar, Mehsana district, Gujarat, India
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Residence	Gandhinagar, Gujarat
As of June 18, 2006 Source: Government of Gujarat

Narendra Dāmodardās Modī (Gujarati: નરેંદ્ર દામોદરદાસ મોદી, born September 17, 1950^[1]) has been Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat since October 7, 2001.

He participated in the rise to political dominance of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat as its elections organiser in the early 1990s, a period which led to its election in 1995. He became Gujarat's Chief Minister in October 2001, promoted to that office when his predecessor Keshubhai Patel resigned, following the defeat of the BJP in by-elections.

He was re-elected in December 2002 as chief minister with 126 seats in the 182-member assembly. His term has been both attacked for alleged mismanagement of or complicity in the 2002 Gujarat violence,^[2] and praised for being an excellent administrator who turned Gujarat into an economic powerhouse.^[3][4]

Contents 1 Biography 2 Chief Ministership 2.1 Gujarat earthquake 2.2 Economic growth 2.3 Social reforms 3 Gujarat violence 3.1 Investigations 3.2 Political fallout 4 Position on terrorism 5 References 6 External links

Modi was born in the northern Mehsana district of Gujarat, to a middle-class family. He has four brothers and one sister called Somabhai, Amritbhai, Prahladbhai, Pankajbhai and Vasantiben. As a young man, he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu nationalist organisation. He became a full-time worker and organiser for it, and was later nominated by it to be a representative on the Bharatiya Janata Party.^[5] He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the year 1974 and was involved in the anti-corruption Nav Nirmāṇ ("Reconstruction") Movement.^[6] He joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the early 1980s. He helped maintain the relations between the RSS and the BJP. In 1988 he became the General Secretary of the Gujarat State BJP unit. He is believed to be a protégé of Lal Krishna Advani, who is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party himself. Advani has praised Modi on numerous occasions, referring to him as "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."^[7]

He was believed to be a back-room operator for the political party in the beginning, but during the elections he portrayed himself as a pro-Hindu leader and campaigned on a platform of Hindutva.^[8]

Although, his official biography does not make any mention of it, Modi is reported to have married a woman working as a teacher. ^[9] Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Narendra Modi has often promoted vegetarian-ism as lifestyle essential for purity of thought and action while considers meat eating as a resource intensive activity that burdens the world food resources. ^[10]

In 1995 he was made the National Secretary of the party, in charge of five major states in India. His friends and supporters passionately call him 'Narendra bhai'.^{[citation needed]}

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In October 2001, he was asked by the party to head the government in Gujarat. In 2001, Gujarat was facing problems because of several natural calamities having struck in the preceding years, including the massive Gujarat Earthquake in January 2001. Modi immediately worked to re-organize and catalyze the local economy^[11].

Modi re-organised the government's administrative structure and embarked upon a massive cost-cutting exercise in order to compensate for economic losses^[12]. Before his arrival to power, the economy was shrinking and domestic growth was stagnant^[4]. During his first administration, Gujarat registered a GDP growth rate of over 10%, the highest growth rate among all the states in India^[13]. Over the last year, growth has registered at 11.2%^[14].

The Gujarat government credits Modi with reducing the fiscal deficit of the state exchequer by fifty percent and reducing the losses of the Gujarat State Electricity Board. He has increased the availability of electricity in many parts of rural Gujarat. One of the most significant achievements of his government has been successful raising of the height of the Narmada Dam from 95 to 110.64 metres, which resulted in increased irrigation, water supplies and hydroelectric power ^[12].

Modi is considered front-runner in party's leadership among the next generation of politicians, in fact he has often been projected as BJP's future potential prime ministerial candidate by many senior leaders. A section of society calls him "Chhotte Sardar" the next Sardar Patel who is most distinguished politician from Gujarat-State who is the architect of India with immpeccable contribution to India's freedom movement.^{[citation needed]}

The Gujarat government under Modi tackled the issue of nutrition in schools by fortifying much of the food with folic acid. Also adding vitamins A and D in vegetable oils and iron in wheat flour. Due to these and other reforms, the number of children suffering from anemia and night blindness have decreased^[4].

Women have also benefited from Modi's reforms. There have been a number of programs created to further education for girls, including the Vidyalakshmi bond program, which pays for a girls' education until age 7, the Vidyadeep program, which provides insurance for female students, and a philanthropic fund to offer financial support for families of female students^[15].

Main article: 2002 Gujarat violence

In February 2002, when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, violence broke out across the state claiming around a thousand lives. An official estimate stated that 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed, 223 people were reported missing and 2,500 were injured. ^[16] The riots followed the Godhra Train Burning incident, where 58 Hindus were burnt alive on a train carriage.^[17]

The United States revoked a visa for Modi the following year, on the allegations that he was responsible for "severe violations of religious freedom".^[18] The matter brought a protest to the United States from the Indian government in Delhi who condemned the decision.^[19] The Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, who represents the political opposition to the National Democratic Alliance of which Modi is a member, endorsed the protest,unequivocally expressing India's concern at the denial of a visa by the United States to the Gujarat Chief Minister. BJP party member L.K. Advani expressed his protests, saying "the U.S., by denying him a visa on a baseless ground, had linked him with India's self-respect and pride".^[20]In addition,B. Raman, the Director of the Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai, Distinguished Fellow and Convenor, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), and regulat contributor to the India-based think tank South Asia Analysis Group has published that the denial of Modi's visa was covertly spearheaded by several evangelical Christian groups, such as the Dalit Freedom Network and the "Institute on Religion and Democracy" (a alliance of evangelicals campaigning against socialism, feminism, pacifism, multiculturalism and other liberal ideas).^[21] However Modi participated in the event hosted by AAHOA via satellite.

Subsequent reports from Human Rights Watch and the national Human Rights Commission have claimed that Modi and his ministers had complicity in the riots that was tacit, if not explicit ^[22]. The report was quoted and expanded on by the United States State Department's country human rights reports for 2003^[23]. The National Human Rights Commission criticized the government, pointing to "a comprehensive failure on the part of the State Government of Gujarat to control persistent violations of rights".^[24] The claims of Human Rights Watch and associated groups have been rejected by Modi, and the BJP. Many outside reviewers have also noted that the Human Rights Watch was biased^{[25][26][27][28]}.

A judicial commission constituted to examine allegations of Gujarat state administration's involvement in the riots of 2002 has twice so far said that there was no evidence as yet to implicate either Modi or his administration in the riots.^{[citation needed]}

As an aftermath to the riots, there were calls for Modi to resign as chief minister of Gujarat.The opposition parties stalled the national parliament over the issue. Even allies of the BJP like DMK and TDP were asking for Modi's resignation.^[29][30] Modi submitted his resignation to the Governor and recommended the dissolution of the 10th Gujarat Legislative Assembly.^[31][32] In the subsequent state re-elections, the BJP, led by Modi, won 126 seats in the 182-member assembly.^[33]

On July 18, 2006, Modi delivered a speech criticizing Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "for his reluctance to revive anti-terror legislations" such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act. He asked the Centre to empower states to invoke tougher laws in the wake of the blasts in Mumbai.^[34] 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.[34]

”

Preceded by Keshubhai S. Patel

Chief Minister of Gujarat 6 October 2001 –

Succeeded by Current Incumbent

v • d • e Sangh Parivar
Organisations	Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh · Rashtriya Sevika Samiti · Bharatiya Jana Sangh · Vishva Hindu Parishad · Bharatiya Janata Party · Bajrang Dal · Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad · Rashtriya Sikh Sangat · Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh · Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh · Hindu Students Council · Swadeshi Jagaran Manch · Durga Vahini · Seva Bharathi · Bharatiya Kisan Sangh · Balagokulam · Vidya Bharati · Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram
Major figures	K.B. Hedgewar · Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar · Syama Prasad Mookerjee · Deendayal Upadhyaya · Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras · Atal Bihari Vajpayee · Lal Krishna Advani · Rajendra Singh · Ashok Singhal · K. S. Sudarshan · Praveen Togadia · Uma Bharti · Narendra Modi · Vinay Katiyar
Philosophy	Hindu nationalism · Hindutva · Integral humanism · Hindu Rashtra · Ram Janmabhoomi · Akhand Bharat · Uniform civil code

• His personal website
• Bharatiya Janata Party Gujarat: Narendra Modi
• Narendra Modi's Speeches/Interviews Audio/Video
• Narendra Modi in SearchIndia.com