Narendra Damodardas
Modi , born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who is the 14th and
current Prime Minister of India, in office since
May 2014. He was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014, and is the Member of Parliament for Varanasi. Modi, a member
of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is a Hindu
nationalist and member
of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Born to a Gujarati family in Vadnagar,
Modi helped his father sell tea as a child, and later ran his own stall. He was
introduced to the RSS at the age of eight, beginning a long association with
the organisation. He left home after graduating from school, partly because of
an arranged marriage which he rejected. Modi traveled around India for two
years, and visited a number of religious centres. He returned to Gujarat and
moved to Ahmedabad in 1969 or 1970. In 1971 he became a
full-time worker for the RSS. During the state of emergency imposed across the country in 1975,
Modi was forced to go into hiding. The RSS assigned him to the BJP in 1985, and
he held several positions within the party hierarchy until 2001, rising to the
rank of general secretary.
Modi was appointed chief minister of Gujarat in
2001, due to Keshubhai Patel's
failing health and poor public image following the earthquake in Bhuj. Modi was elected to
the legislative assembly soon after. His administration has been considered
complicit in the 2002 Gujarat riots, or otherwise criticised for
its handling of it, although a court found no evidence to prosecute Modi. His policies
as chief minister, credited with encouraging economic growth, have received
praise, and several industrial projects were begun during his tenure. His
administration has been criticised for failing to significantly improve health,
poverty, and education indices in the state.
Modi led the BJP in the 2014 general election, which gave the
party a majority in the Lok Sabha,
the first time a single party had achieved this since 1984. Modi himself was
elected to parliament from Varanasi. Since taking office, Modi's administration
has tried to raise foreign direct investment in the Indian economy, increased
spending on infrastructure, and reduced spending on health and social welfare
programmes. Modi has attempted to improve efficiency in the bureaucracy, and
centralised power through the abolition of the planning commission. He has
begun a high-profile sanitation campaign, and weakened or abolished
environmental and labour laws. Credited with engineering a political
realignment towards right-wing politics, Modi remains a figure of
controversy domestically and internationally over his Hindu nationalist beliefs
and his role during the 2002 Gujarat riots, cited as evidence of an
exclusionary social agenda.
