Modi as Chief Minister

Modi Challenges as Chief Minister

The biggest challenge that he had to face, when he took over as the Chief Minster, was the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the areas affected by the massive earthquake of January 2001. Bhuj was a city of rubble and thousands of people were living in temporary shelters without any basic infrastructure. Today Bhuj is proof of how Shri Narendra Modi has turned adversity into an opportunity for holistic development.

Even when the reconstruction and rehabilitation was going on, Shri Narendra Modi did not lose sight of the bigger picture. Gujarat had always focused on industrial growth. Shri Narendra Modi decided to correct the imbalance by focusing appropriately on social sectors for an integrated socio-economic growth. He conceived the Panchamrut Yojana – a five-pronged strategy for an integrated development of the state.

Under his leadership, Gujarat is witnessing massive transformation in several sectors including education, agriculture, healthcare and several others. He developed a clear vision of his own for the future of the state, launched policy-driven reform programmes, reoriented government’s administrative structure and successfully put Gujarat on the road to prosperity. His intentions and capacity were noticed within the first 100 days of his coming to power. Little wonder that these skills coupled with his administrative acumen, clear vision and integrity of character translated into a landslide victory in the December 2002 general elections and the Modi government was voted back to power with a massive majority of 128 seats in a house of 182. The spectacular performance continued in 2007 when in yet another election Shri Modi led the BJP to a record win.

Shri Narendra Modi completed record 4000 days in service of the people of Gujarat on 17th September 2012. He has been blessed by the support of the people of Gujarat in three successive elections. After leading the party to victory in 2002 and 2007 (117 seats) elections, Shri Modi led the BJP to another victory at the hustings during the 2012 Gujarat Assembly Elections. The BJP emerged victorious in 115 seats and Shri Modi was sworn-in as the CM of Gujarat for the 4th consecutive time on 26th December 2012.

Modi Early Political Career

Modi Political Career

The RSS seconded Modi to the BJP in 1987. While Shankarsingh Vaghela and Keshubhai Patel were the established names in the Gujarat BJP at that time, Modi rose to prominence after organising Murli Manohar Joshi's Ekta yatra (journey for unity). His electoral strategy was central to BJP's victory in the 1995 state elections.

Modi became the General Secretary of the BJP and was transferred to New Delhi where he was assigned responsibility for the party's activities in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Vaghela, who had threatened to break away from BJP in 1995, defected from the BJP after he lost the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. In 1998, Modi was promoted to the post of National Secretary of the BJP. While selecting candidates for the 1998 state elections in Gujarat, Modi sidelined people who were loyal to Vaghela and rewarded those who favoured Patel, thus ending factional divisions within the party. Modi strategies were key to winning those elections.

Modi Early Life

Modi Early life and education befeore Politics

Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar in Mehsana district of what was then Bombay State (present-day Gujarat), India. He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife, Heeraben. Whilst a child, he helped his father sell tea at Vadnagar railway station and on trains. While a teenager, Modi ran a tea stall with his brother around a bus terminus. He completed his schooling in Vadnagar, where a teacher described him as being an average student but a keen debater.

He began work in the staff canteen of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation, where he stayed till he became a full–time pracharak (campaigner) of the RSS. After Modi had received some RSS training in Nagpur, which was a prerequisite for taking up an official position in the Sangh Parivar, he was given charge of Sangh's student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), in Gujarat. Modi organised agitations and covert distribution of Sangh's pamphlets during the Emergency. During his years in the RSS, Modi came in touch with Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, leaders of the Jan Sangh, who later founded the BJP's Gujarat state unit. Modi remained a pracharak in the RSS while he completed his Master's degree in political science from Gujarat University.

Modi

About Modi

Narendra Damodardas Modi born 17 September 1950 is an Indian politician who has been the 14th Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat since 2001. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance for the upcoming 2014 Indian general elections.

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 won by the Indian National Congress. 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. In July 2007, he became the longest-serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history when he had been in power for 2,063 days continuously. He is currently in his fourth consecutive term as Chief Minister.

Modi is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and is described as a Hindu nationalist by media, scholars and himself. He is a controversial figure both within India and internationally. His administration has been severely criticised for the incidents surrounding the 2002 Gujarat violence. He has been praised for his economic policies which are credited with creating the environment for the high rate of economic growth in Gujarat. However, his administration has also been criticised for failing to make a significant positive impact upon the human development of the state.