Narendra Modi

Hindu

Narendra Modi has been sworn in as the chief minister of the western Indian state of Gujarat for a third consecutive term. Mr Modi was sworn in at a ceremony in Ahmedabad.

His Hindu nationalist BJP won 117 of 182 seats in the state assembly - its fourth consecutive victory. Its main rival, the Congress party, won 59.

Referendum :-
Correspondents say the BJP's victory in Gujarat will boost the party ahead of a general election due in 18 months.

Analysts say Mr Modi, who is credited with pursuing successful economic policies, turned the election into a referendum over himself - defying local party chiefs.

The Gujarat victory is a big boost to the BJP :

At a meeting of party workers on Monday, however, he refused this.

"It is a perverted thought to say I am bigger than the party," he said.

"If you widen your focus, you would see thousands of BJP workers who have lifted me up on their shoulders."

Indian newspapers have variously described Mr Modi's victory as "historic" and "triumphant".

The Times of India said: "He has led the BJP to its fourth consecutive win in Gujarat defying anti-incumbency factors and a rebellion within the party."

The Congress party campaigned hard to defeat him, with major rallies by its top leaders including Sonia Gandhi and her son, Rahul, the latest member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in Indian politics.

Interests:

Only Politics

Favorite Music:

Simple Music

Favorite Movies:

Gandhi, Sardar

Favorite Books:

All Mahatma Gandhi's books, Hindu religious books.

Favorite TV Shows:

Only news channels

Favorite Quotations:

"To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that the one that must be loved is not a friend." - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

And

"There's no red tape in Gujarat, only red carpets"

About Me:

I was born on 17 September 1950 to a middle class family in Vadnagar in Mehsana district of North Gujarat. Then I completed my schooling in Vadnagar and gained a masters graduate degree in Political Science from Gujarat University. As a young man, I joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a student organization and was involved in the anti-corruption Nav Nirmāṇ ("Reconstruction") Movement. After working as a full time organizer for the organization, I was later nominated as its representative in the Bharatiya Janata Party.

I started with RSS and as a swaymsevak, had to go underground during the The Emergency (India) declared by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. I joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in early 1987.

I helped maintain the relations between the RSS and the BJP. In 1988 I was recognized as master strategist of the party and was entrusted as the General Secretary of the Gujarat State BJP unit. During 1988-1995, I undertook and successfully carried out two major projects of BJP initiated by Lal Krishna Advani -- (a) Somnath to Ayodhya Rath Yatra and (b) a march from Kanyakumari, the southern end of India to Kashmir, the North of India.

In 1995, I became the National Secretary of the party with the charge of five major states. In 1995, BJP came to power with two third majority in Gujarat Assembly. Since then, Gujarat is under the rule of BJP. In 1998 I was promoted to the post of General Secretary (Organization) of BJP, I held the office till October 2001, then I became the 14th Chief Minister of Gujarat.

Narendra Modi

Narendra Modi Born on 17th September, 1950 at Vadnagar, a small town in Mehsana district of North Gujarat, Modi grew up in a culture that instilled in him the values of generosity, benevolence and social service. During the Indo-Pak war in the mid sixties, even as a young boy, he volunteered to serve the soldiers in transit at railway stations. In 1967, he served the flood affected people of Gujarat. The CM of Gujarat is not merely a Chief Minister. He is a man who blots out the line of demarcation between the state and the society. The hierarchy of the ruler and ruled breaks down and we have a phenomenon of the state and the society combined in the great adventure of the reconstruction of a new Gujarat. Narendra Modi is the man of destiny, the guiding star of the masses. If like the poet, the leader is also born, here we have a born leader. That he is also, at heart, a poet endows him with imagination and emotion that go to the making of his vision with abundant commitment and concern. His is a profile in courage, presenting a common man who is also uncommon.

RSS role

RSS role

When Mr Modi was re-elected state chief minister in December 2002 his biggest gains were in areas of intercommunal violence.

During those elections he campaigned openly on a platform of hardline Hinduism.

The Gujarat riots of 2002 left about 1,000 people dead

Analysts say the reason why the chief minister remains relatively unscathed is the strong support he enjoys among senior leaders in the right-wing Hindu organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The RSS, founded in the 1920s with a clear objective to make India a Hindu nation, functions as an ideological fountainhead to a whole host of hardline Hindu groups - including the BJP with which it has close ties.

The RSS has a particularly strong base in Gujarat and Mr Modi's ties to it were seen as a strength the organisation could tap when he joined the state unit of the BJP in the 1980s.

Mr Modi reportedly married a woman working as a teacher in a poor Muslim area about 100km (60 miles) from Gujarat's commercial capital, Ahmedabad.

But his official biography makes no mention of it.

Critics say the omission is in keeping with the value that RSS traditionalists place on a life of bachelorhood - allowing in their view true dedication to the organisation.