Prime Minister

Narendra Damodardas Modi, born on September 17, 1950, is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India since May 26, 2014. Prior to this, he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and currently represents Varanasi as a Member of Parliament (MP). A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu nationalist organization, Modi is the longest-serving prime minister not affiliated with the Indian National Congress.

Modi grew up in Vadnagar, Gujarat, where he completed his secondary education. He joined the RSS at the age of eight and became a full-time worker for the organization in 1971. At 18, he married Jashodaben Modi, but he left her shortly after, only publicly acknowledging her decades later due to legal requirements. He joined the BJP in 1985 and rose through the ranks, becoming general secretary in 1998. In 2001, he was appointed Chief Minister of Gujarat and was subsequently elected to the legislative assembly. His administration faced scrutiny for its handling of the 2002 Gujarat riots, which resulted in over 1,000 deaths, predominantly among Muslims; a Special Investigation Team found no evidence to prosecute him.

In the 2014 general election, Modi led the BJP to its first parliamentary majority since 1984. His government focused on increasing foreign investment while reducing spending on healthcare, education, and social welfare programs. He launched a prominent sanitation campaign, implemented a controversial demonetization of banknotes, and introduced the Goods and Services Tax, while also weakening environmental and labor laws. In 2019, Modi’s administration conducted the Balakot airstrike against an alleged terrorist camp in Pakistan, which had nationalist appeal despite mixed results. The BJP won the subsequent general election.

In his second term, Modi’s government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and introduced the Citizenship Amendment Act, leading to widespread protests and the 2020 Delhi riots, which saw violence against Muslims. His administration faced significant backlash over three controversial farm laws, which were eventually repealed after extensive farmer protests. Modi’s government also managed India’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the World Health Organization estimated 4.7 million deaths in India.

Under Modi, India has seen democratic backsliding, with concerns over the weakening of democratic institutions and individual rights. He enjoys consistently high approval ratings and is viewed as steering Indian politics towards the right. However, he remains a contentious figure both domestically and internationally due to his Hindu nationalist beliefs and his administration’s actions during the Gujarat riots, raising concerns about a majoritarian agenda.

Narendra Damodardas Modi was born on September 17, 1950, into a Gujarati Hindu family of oil pressers (Modh-Ghanchi), classified as an Other Backward Class (OBC), in Vadnagar, Mehsana district, Bombay State (now Gujarat). He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and Hiraben Modi.

As a child, Modi occasionally helped in his father’s tea stall at the Vadnagar railway station, as noted by both Modi and his neighbors. He completed his higher secondary education in Vadnagar in 1967, where his teachers described him as an average student but a talented debater with a passion for theatre, often playing larger-than-life roles that influenced his later political persona.

At the age of eight, Modi was introduced to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and began attending local shakhas (training sessions). There, he met Lakshmanrao Inamdar, who became his political mentor, and also connected with Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders who helped establish the BJP in Gujarat. As a teenager, he was part of the National Cadet Corps.

Following a traditional betrothal arranged by his family, Modi married Jashodaben Chimanlal Modi when he was 18. Shortly afterward, he left her and home, never formally divorcing, though he did not publicly acknowledge the marriage for decades. In April 2014, just before the national elections, Modi confirmed his marriage to Jashodaben. A biographer noted that Modi kept this aspect of his life private to maintain his status as a pracharak in the RSS, where celibacy was once considered essential.

After leaving home, Modi spent two years traveling across northern and northeastern India. He visited several Hindu ashrams associated with Swami Vivekananda, including Belur Math, the Advaita Ashrama in Almora, and the Ramakrishna Mission in Rajkot, although his stays were brief due to his lack of formal education. Vivekananda’s teachings significantly impacted Modi’s life.

In mid-1968, after being turned away from Belur Math, Modi traveled to various places, including Calcutta and Assam, before returning to Gujarat via Delhi and Rajasthan. In late 1969 or early 1970, he briefly visited Vadnagar before moving to Ahmedabad, where he lived with his uncle and worked in his canteen.

In Ahmedabad, Modi rekindled his connection with Inamdar, who was based at the RSS headquarters. His first notable political activity as an adult occurred in 1971 when he participated in a Jana Sangh Satyagraha in Delhi led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee to support the Bangladesh Liberation War. The central government under Indira Gandhi prohibited such open support, and Modi was briefly jailed in Tihar. Following the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War, he left his uncle’s job to become a full-time pracharak for the RSS under Inamdar’s guidance.

In 1978, Modi earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in political science from the School of Open Learning at Delhi University. He later received a Master of Arts (MA) degree in political science from Gujarat University in 1983, graduating with first-class honors as an external distance learning student. However, there has been controversy regarding the authenticity of his degrees.