Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi

Narendra Damodardas Modi was born on 17^th September 1950 in Vadnagar, father Damodardas Mulchand Modi and mother Heeraben. He struggled as a tea vendor with his brother and completed his schooling in Vadnagar. He took training in RSS training camp in Nagpur. Besides this he began work in the staff canteen of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation. Modi was a key strategist for the BJP in the successful 1995 and 1998 Gujarat state election campaigns, as well as a major campaign figure in the 2009 general elections. He is the 14th and current Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat, representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He first became chief minister of Gujarat in October 2001, being promoted to the office upon the resignation of his predecessor, Keshubhai Patel, following the defeat of BJP in by-elections.

On 27 February 2002, a train, hundreds of passengers in it having large numbers of Hindus was burned near Godhra, killing nearly 60 people. There were rumors that the violence had been carried out by Muslims which resulted widespread Anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat. Death toll estimated over 2000 and several thousand were injured. The Gujarat administration was accused by human rights organisations, oppositions, and media of not taking sufficient action against the violence. The Modi government imposed curfew throughout Gujrat and issued shoot-at-sight orders to stop violence in the state. In April 2009, the Supreme Court of India appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate about the Gujarat violence and Narendra Modi's role in the communal violence. The SIT submitted report to the court in December 2010 that no evidence found against Modi of allowing communal violence in the state. On 7 May 2012, the Supreme Court appointed Raju Ramachandran team who observed that Modi could be engaged for promoting discrimination among different communities during the 2002 Gujarat violence.  His administration has been severely criticised for the incidents surrounding the 2002 Gujarat violence. But from 2003 to till date Gujarat has shown remarkable development. However, his administration has also been criticized for failing to make a significant positive impact upon the human development of the state. Today Modi is the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP for the upcoming 2014 elections. He is a controversial figure both within India and internationally.