Love him or hate him, you simply cannot ignore him. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi has had both passionate and loyal fans and unhappy and fierce detractors for him. But he has definitely taken India on both terms that he won with a resounding majority.
Born to a Gujarati family in Vadnagar, Modi helped his father sell tea as a child, and has said he later ran his own stall. He was introduced to the RSS at the age of eight, beginning a long association with the organisation. He is estranged with his wife jashodaben. Modi travelled around India for two years and visited a number of religious centres before returning to Gujarat. 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 criticized for its handling of it. A Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team found no evidence to initiate prosecution proceedings against Modi personally. His policies as chief minister, credited with encouraging economic growth in Gujarat, have received a lot of adulation. He has spoken about the need of sustainable development as the need of the hour. He is well known for his rapport with many foreign heads of state and aggressively pushing the growth of the Indian GDP.
