Narendra Damodardas Modi (Gujarati: ) born 17 September 1950) is
the 15th and currentPrime
Minister of India, in office since 26 May 2014.[1][2] Modi, a leader of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), was the Chief
Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member
of Parliament (MP) from Varanasi.
He led the BJP in the 2014
general election, which gave the party a majority in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the
Indian parliament) – a first for any party since 1984 – and was credited for
October 2014 BJP electoral victories in the states of Haryana and Maharashtra.[3]
The prime minister, a Hindu nationalist, is a member of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)[4][5] and is a controversial
figure domestically and internationally;[6][7][8][9] his administration was
criticised for its failure to prevent the 2002 Gujarat
riots.[9][10] Although Modi's economic
policies (credited with encouraging economic growth in Gujarat) have been praised,[11] his administration has also
been criticised for failing to significantly improve the human development in
the state.[12]
Contents
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Early life and education
Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a
family of grocers in Vadnagar, Mehsana district, Bombay State (present-day Gujarat).[13][14] His family belonged to the Ghanchi-Teli (oil-presser) community, which is categorised
as an Other Backward
Class by the Indian government.[15][16][17] He was the third of six
children born to Damodardas Mulchand (1915-1989) and Heeraben Modi (b. c.
1920).[18][19][20] As a child Modi helped his
father sell tea at the Vadnagar railway station, and later ran a tea stall with
his brother near a bus terminus.[21][22] He completed his higher
secondary education in Vadnagar in 1967, where a teacher
described him as an average student and a keen debater with an interest in
theatre.[21][23] An early gift for rhetoric
in debates was noted by teachers and students.[24] Modi preferred playing
larger-than-life characters in theatrical productions, which has influenced his
political image.[25][26]
Modi with his mother,
Heeraben, on his 63rd birthday (17 September 2013)
At age eight Modi discovered the RSS, and
began attending its local shakhas (training sessions). There
he met Lakshmanrao Inamdar, popularly known as Vakil Saheb, who inducted him as
an RSS balswayamsevak (junior cadet) and became
his political mentor.[27] While Modi was training
with the RSS he also met Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, Bharatiya Jana
Sanghleaders who were founding members of the BJP's Gujarat unit in
1980.[28][29][30][31]
Engaged while still a child to a local girl,
Jashodabehn, Modi rejected the arranged marriage at the same time he graduated
from high school.[32] The resulting familial
tensions contributed to his decision to leave home in 1967.[33] He spent the ensuing two
years travelling across northern and north-eastern India, though few details of
where he went have emerged.[34] In interviews, Modi has
described visiting Hindu ashrams founded by Swami Vivekananda: the Belur Mathnear Kolkata, followed by the Advaita Ashrama in Almora and the Ramakrishna mission inRajkot. He remained only a short time at each, since he lacked
the required college education.[35][36][37] Reaching the Belur Math in
the early summer of 1968 and being turned away, Modi wandered through Calcutta,
West Bengal and Assam, stopping by Siliguri and Guwahati.[38] He then went to the Ramakrishna
ashram in Almora, where he was again rejected, before travelling back to
Gujarat via Delhi and Rajasthan in 1968-69.[39] Sometime in late 1969 or
early 1970, Modi returned to Vadnagar for a brief visit before leaving again
for Ahmedabad.[40] There he lived with his
uncle, working in the latter's canteen at the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation.[41][42] In Ahmedabad Modi renewed
his acquaintance with Inamdar, who was based at Hedgewar Bhavan (RSS
headquarters) in the city.[28][29][43] After the Indo-Pakistani
War of 1971, he stopped working for his uncle and became a full–time pracharak (campaigner) for the RSS.[42] In 1978 Modi became an RSS sambhaag pracharak(regional organiser), and
received a degree in political science after a distance-education course from Delhi University.[44][45] Five years later, he
received a Master of Arts degree in political science
from Gujarat
University.[23][46]
Early political career
On 26 June 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state
of emergency in India which lasted until 1977. During this
period, many of her political opponents were jailed and opposition groups
(including the RSS) were banned.[47][48] As pracharak in-charge of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of
the RSS, Modi was forced to go underground in Gujarat and frequently traveled
in disguise to avoid arrest. He became involved in printing pamphlets opposing
the government, sending them to Delhi and organising demonstrations.[21][49][50][51] During this period Modi
wrote a Gujarati book, Sangharsh ma Gujarat (The Struggles of
Gujarat), describing events during the Emergency.[52][53]
He was assigned by the RSS to the BJP in
1985.[30] In 1988 Modi was elected
organising secretary of the party's Gujarat unit, marking his entrance into
electoral politics.[44][54] He rose within the party,
helping organise L. K. Advani's 1990 Ayodhya Rath Yatra in 1990 and Murli Manohar
Joshi's 1991–92 Ekta Yatra (Journey for Unity).[21][55] As party secretary, Modi's
electoral strategy was considered central to BJP victory in the 1995 state
assembly elections.[30][56][57] In November of that year
Modi was elected BJP national secretary and transferred to New Delhi, where he
assumed responsibility for party activities in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.[56][58] The following year, Shankersinh
Vaghela(one of the most prominent BJP leaders in Gujarat) defected
to the INC after losing his parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha elections.[21] Modi, on the selection committee
for the 1998 Assembly elections in Gujarat, favoured supporters of BJP leader Keshubhai Patel over those supporting
Vaghela to end factional division in the party. His strategy was credited as
key to the BJP winning an overall majority in the 1998 elections,[56][59] and Modi was promoted to
BJP general secretary (organisation) in May of that year.[60]
Chief Minister of Gujarat
.jpg)
In 2001, Keshubhai Patel's health was failing
and the BJP had lost seats in the by-elections. Allegations of abuse of
power, corruption and poor administration were made, and Patel's standing had
been damaged by his administration's handling of the 2001 Bhuj Earthquake.[56][61][62] The BJP national leadership
sought a new candidate for chief minister, and Modi (who had expressed
misgivings about Patel's administration) was chosen as a replacement.[21] Although senior BJP leader L. K. Advani did not want to ostracise
Patel and was concerned about Modi's lack of experience in government, Modi
declined an offer to be Patel's deputy chief minister and told Advani and Atal Bihari
Vajpayee he was "going to be fully responsible
for Gujarat or not at all". On 3 October 2001 he replaced Patel as Chief
Minister of Gujarat, with the responsibility of preparing the BJP for the
December 2002 elections.[63][64] As Chief Minister, Modi
favoured privatisation andsmall government; this was at odds with
political commentator Aditi Phadnis' description of the RSS as
anti-privatisation and anti-globalisation.[61]
First term (2001–02)
On 7 October 2001, Modi was administered the
oath of office.[65] He then won a 24 February
2002 Rajkot – II[clarification
needed] assembly election, defeating Ashwin Mehta of
theIndian
National Congress (INC) by 14,728 votes.[66]
2002 Gujarat riots
On 27 February 2002 a train with several
hundred passengers, including a large number of Hindu pilgrims returning from
Ayodhya after a religious ceremony at the site of the demolished Babri Masjid,[67][68] was burned near Godhra; about 60 people were killed.[a] In the wake of rumours that
the fire was set by Muslim arsonists, anti-Muslim
violencespread through Gujarat.[69] Estimates of that death
toll ranged from 900 to over 2,000, with several thousand injured.[70][71] The Modi government imposed
a curfew in major cities, issued shoot-at-sight orders and called for the army
to prevent the violence from escalating,[72][73] but human rights
organisations, opposition parties and some media accused the Gujarat government
of taking insufficient action against the riots (to the point of condoning
them).[72][73][74] Modi's decision to move the
bodies of the Kar Sevak train victims from Godhra
to Ahmedabad was criticised for inflaming the violence.[75][76]
In March 2008 the Supreme
Court asked the state government to re-investigate
nine cases from the 2002 riots (including the Gulbarg
Society massacre), establishing a Special Investigation Team (SIT).[74][77][78] In response to a petition
from Zakia Jafri (widow of Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the Gulbarg
Society massacre), in April 2009 the court asked the SIT to investigate her
allegation that Modi and another minister were complicit in the killings.[77][79] The SIT questioned Modi in
March 2010; in May, it presented to the court a report finding no evidence to
substantiate the allegations.[77][80] In July 2011, amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran submitted his final report
to the court: contrary to the SIT position, Modi could be prosecuted based on
the available evidence. The team criticised Ramachandran's report for relying
on testimony from Sanjiv Bhatt, who they said fabricated the
documents used as evidence.[81][82] The Supreme Court gave the
matter to the magistrate court, with the SIT examining Ramachandran's report.
The team submitted its final report in March 2012 seeking closure of the case,
with Zakia Jaffri filing a protest petition in response. In December 2013 the
magistrate court rejected the protest petition, accepting the SIT's finding
that there was no evidence against the chief minister.[83]
Modi's involvement in the 2002 events has
continued to be debated. Several scholars have described them as a pogrom, while others have called them state terrorism.[84][85][86]Summarising academic views on the subject, Martha Nussbaum said: "There is by now
a broad consensus that the Gujarat violence was a form of ethnic cleansing,
that in many ways it was premeditated, and that it was carried out with the
complicity of the state government and officers of the law."[87] In 2012 Maya Kodnani, a minister in Modi's
government from 2007 to 2009, was convicted of participation in the Naroda
Patiya massacre during the 2002 riots.[88][89] Kodnani was the first woman
and the first MLA to be convicted in a Godhra-riots case.[90] Although Modi's government
had announced that it would seek the death penalty for Kodnani on appeal, in
2013 it retreated from that stance.[91][92][93]
Several months after the riots, New York Times reporter Celia Dugger asked
Modi if he wished he had handled the riots any differently. He replied that his
only regret was not handling the news media better,[94][95] accusing India's NDTV channel of journalistic irresponsibility.[96]
2002 election
In the aftermath of the violence came
widespread calls for Modi to resign as chief minister from within and outside
the state, including leaders of the Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagamand the Telugu Desam
Party (allies in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance coalition), and opposition
parties stalled Parliament over the issue.[97] Modi submitted his
resignation, which was not accepted, at the April 2002 BJP national executive
meeting in Goa.[98] His cabinet had a 19 July
2002 emergency meeting, offered its resignation to the Gujarat Governor S. S.
Bhandari and the assembly was dissolved.[99][100] In the subsequent
elections, the BJP won 127 seats in the 182-member assembly.[101] Although Modi later denied
it, he made significant use of anti-Muslim rhetoric during his campaign.[102][103][104][105] He won the Maninagar
constituency, receiving 1,13,589 of 1,54,981 votes and defeating INC candidate
Yatin Oza by 75,333 votes.[106] On 22 December 2002,
Bhandari swore Modi in for a second term.[107]
Second term (2002–07)
After accusations of anti-Muslim rhetoric
during the campaign, during Modi's second term his emphasis shifted from Hindutva to Gujarat's economic
development.[61][102] He curtailed the influence
of Sangh Parivar organisations such as the Bharatiya
Kisan Sangh (BKS) and theVishva
Hindu Parishad (VHP),[108] entrenched in the state
after the decline of Ahmedabad's textile industry,[61] and dropped Gordhan Zadafia(an ally of former Sangh
co–worker and VHP state chief Praveen Togadia) from his cabinet.
When the BKS staged a farmers' demonstration Modi ordered their eviction from
state-provided houses, and his decision to demolish 200 illegal temples in Gandhinagar deepened the rift with the
VHP.[108][109] Sangh organisations were no
longer consulted or informed in advance about Modi's administrative decisions.[108]
His 2002–07 changes have led to Gujarat's
description as an attractive investment destination. According to Aditi
Phadnis, "There was sufficient anecdotal evidence pointing to the fact
that corruption had gone down significantly in the state ... if there was
to be any corruption, Modi had to know about it".[61] He established financial
and technology parks in Gujarat and during the 2007 Vibrant Gujarat summit, real-estate
investment deals worth ₹6.6 trillion were signed in the
state.[61]
Despite his second-term focus on economic
issues, Modi's relationship with Muslims continued to be criticised. Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (who asked Modi for tolerance in the aftermath of
the 2002 Gujarat violence and supported his resignation as chief minister)[110][111] distanced himself, reaching
out to North Indian Muslims before the 2004
Lok Sabha elections. After the elections Vajpayee called the
violence in Gujarat a reason for the BJP's electoral defeat and said it had
been a mistake to leave Modi in office after the riots.[112][113]
2007 election
During the run-up to the 2007 assembly
elections and the 2009 general election, the BJP ramped up its rhetoric on
terrorism.[114] On 18 July 2006, Modi
criticised Prime MinisterManmohan Singh " ... for his
reluctance to revive anti-terror legislation" such as the 2002 Prevention
of Terrorism Act. He asked the national government to allow states
to invoke tougher laws in the wake of the 2006
Mumbai blasts[115] and demanded the execution
of Afzal Guru,[116] a collaborator with
Pakistani jihadists who was convicted of terrorism for his involvement in the 2001
Indian Parliament attack.[117][b] After the November 2008 Mumbai
attacks Modi held a meeting to discuss the security of
Gujarat's 1,600-kilometre (990 mi)-long coastline, resulting in government authorisation of 30
high–speed surveillance boats.[118] In July 2007 Modi completed
2,063 consecutive days as chief minister of Gujarat (making him the
longest-serving holder of that post),[119] and the BJP won 122 of 182
state-assembly seats in that year's election.[120]
Third term (2007–12)
Projects
Keshubhai Patel and Modi's BJP governments
supported NGOs and communities in the creation of groundwater-conservation
projects; according to Tushaar Shah, Gujarat (a semi-arid state) was
" ... never known for agrarian dynamism". By December 2008
500,000 structures were built, of which 113,738 were check dams. While most check-dam
impoundments dried up during the pre-monsoon period, they helped monsoon
rains recharge the aquifers beneath them.[121] Sixty of the 112 tehsils which were found to have depleted the water table in 2004 had regained their
normal groundwater levels by 2010,[122] and Gujarat increased its
groundwater levels when they were falling in all other Indian states. As a
result, the state's production of genetically modified Bt cotton (which could now be
irrigated with tube wells) increased to become the
largest in India.[121] The boom in cotton
production and its semi–arid land use[123] saw Gujarat's agricultural
growth increase to 9.6 percent from 2001 to 2007.[124] Although public irrigation
measures in central and southern Gujarat (such as the Sardar Sarovar
Dam) have been less successful,[121] from 2001 to 2010 Gujarat
recorded an agricultural growth
rate of 10.97 percent – the highest of any state.[123] However, sociologists have
pointed out that the growth rate under the 1992–97 INC government was 12.9
percent.[125]
Modi at a hospital
dedication inKheda district
The Modi government brought electricity to
every village in Gujarat, although according to Dipankar Banerjee all but 170
villages had been electrified under the INC administration.[125] Modi significantly changed
the state's system of power distribution, greatly impacting farmers. Gujarat
expanded the Jyotigram Yojana scheme, in which
agricultural electricity was separated from other rural electricity; the
agricultural electricity was rationed to fit scheduled irrigation demands,
reducing its cost. Although early protests by farmers ended when those who
benefited found that their electricity supply had stabilised,[121] according to an assessment
study corporations and large farmers benefited from the policy at the expense
of small farmers and labourers.[126]
Progress was made on the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City project, considered one of
Modi's pet projects. Its first phase, consisting of two skyscrapers (GIFT One
and Two), was completed in 2012.[127][128]
Development debate
Modi addressing graduates
atGujarat
National Law University
Modi's government has branded Gujarat as a
state of dynamic development, economic growth and prosperity with the slogan,
"Vibrant Gujarat".[129][130][131] However, critics have
pointed to its relatively poor record on human development, poverty relief,
nutrition and education. Gujarat ranks 13th in India in poverty and 21st in
education. Nearly 45 percent of children under five are underweight and 23
percent are undernourished, putting the state in the "alarming"
category on the India
State Hunger Index.[132] According to state
officials, Gujarat outperformed India as a whole in improving several
human-development indicators (such as female education) from 2001 to 2011;
school drop-out rates declined from 20 percent in 2001 to two percent in 2011,
and maternal mortality fell by 32 percent during the same period.[133]In a review of the 1894 Land
Acquisition Act, the Supreme Court of India identified Gujarat as
one of the few states from which there were no complaints of forcible land
acquisition.[134]
According to political scientist Christophe
Jaffrelot, development in Gujarat has been limited to the urban
middle class as rural residents and the lower castes have become increasingly
marginalised. The state ranks 10th of the 21 Indian states in the Human
Development Index, which he attributes to less rural development.
Jaffrelot says that under Modi the number of families below the poverty line
has increased and conditions for rural adivasi and dalits, in particular, have declined.[135] In July 2013 economics
Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen expressed disapproval of
Modi's governance record, saying that under his administration Gujarat's
"record in education and healthcare is pretty bad".[136] However, economists Arvind Panagariya and Jagdish Bhagwati say that Gujarat's social
indicators have improved from a lower baseline than that of other Indian
states. According to them, Gujarat's performance in raising literacy rates has
been superior to other states and the "rapid" improvement of health
indicators is evidence that "its progress has not been poor by any
means."[137]
Fourth term (2012–14)
Modi with Anandiben Patel at a meeting of BJP MLAs
after his election as prime minister; Patel succeeded him as Gujarat chief
minister.
In the 2012 Gujarat Legislative Assembly
elections, Modi won the constituency of Maninagar by 86,373 votes over Shweta
Bhatt, the INC candidate and wife of Sanjiv Bhatt.[138] The BJP won 115 of the 182
seats, continuing its majority during his tenure[139] and allowing the party to
form the government (as it had in Gujarat since 1995).[140] In later by-elections the
BJP won four more assembly seats and two Lok Sabha seats held by the INC,
although Modi did not campaign for its candidates.[141] In 2013, the Wharton
India Economic Forum(WIEF) at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania cancelled a keynote
video-conference speech by Modi following protests by Indian-Americans.[142] After his election as prime
minister, Modi resigned as chief minister and surrendered his MLA seat fromManinagar on 21 May 2014 after a
speech described as emotional. Anandiben Patel was selected as his
replacement.[143]
National government
On 31 March 2013 Modi was appointed to the
BJP parliamentary board, the highest decision-making body in the party,[146][147] and at the party's 9 June
national executive meeting he was appointed chair of the BJP's central election
campaign committee for the 2014 general election.[148] Senior leader and founding
member Lal Krishna
Advani resigned his party posts after the
appointment in protest of leaders who were "concerned with their personal
agendas". His resignation, which was described by The Times of India as "a protest against
Narendra Modi's elevation as the chairman of the party's election
committee", was withdrawn the following day at the urging of RSS chief
Mohan Bhagwat.[149] In September 2013, the BJP
announced that the chief minister would be their candidate for prime minister
in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.[150]
Modi was a candidate in two constituencies:
Varanasi and Vadodara.[151] During the campaign, he
pledged to speed government decision-making and remove bureaucratic hurdles
which slowed development.[152] He won in both
constituencies, defeating Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal in Varanasi and Madhusudan Mistry of the INC in Vadodara by
570,128 votes.[153] The BJP-led NDA won the general
election overall and the INC experienced its worst-ever defeat.[154][155][156] Modi, who was unanimously
elected leader of the BJP after his party's victory, was appointed prime
minister by India's president.[157][158] To comply with the rule
that an MP cannot have two constituencies, he vacated the Vadodara seat.[159] In what CNN described as "India's first social media
election", Modi used Twitter, Facebook, Google Hangouts and holograms for campaign
appearances. His victory tweet was the most re-tweeted in India.[160]
Prime Minister
Modi (far right)
being sworn in as prime minister
Modi was sworn in on 26 May 2014 at the Rashtrapati
Bhavan.[161] He was the first to invite
all South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation leaders to attend his
swearing-in ceremony.[162] His first cabinet consisted
of 45 ministers, 25 fewer than the previous government.[163]
International diplomacy
As chief minister
To attract foreign investment to Gujarat when
he was chief minister Modi visited China, Singapore and Japan,[164] travelling to China in
November 2006 (to study the country's special
economic zones, about to be implemented in Gujarat),[165] September 2007[166] and November 2011. A month
after his 2011 visit the Chinese
government released 13 Indian diamond traders charged
with smuggling in Shenzhen, with Modi attributing their
release to his diplomacy and statesmanship.[167][168]
Modi meeting the South
Korean ambassador in Gandhinagar
His relationship with many Western nations
was troubled during his tenure as chief minister, with questions about his role
in the 2002 riots resulting in travel bans to the UK, the US and the EU. Modi
was barred from entering the United States under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act banning violators of
religious freedom,[169] the only person denied a US visa under this provision.[170] The UK and the European
Union refused to admit him because of what they saw as his role in the riots.
As Modi rose to prominence in India, the UK[171] and the EU[172] lifted their bans in
October 2012 and March 2013, respectively, and after his election as prime
minister he was invited to Washington.[173][174]
In 2011 the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry, impressed with
development in Gujarat, invited Modi to visit Pakistan and address business
leaders who asked him to consider a flight between Ahmedabad and Karachi because of the cultural and
economic relationships between Gujarat and Sindh. Modi wanted to ease Pakistan's power crisis,
(particularly in Sindh), and suggested that the country could follow the
examples of the "Gujarat model" set by Gujarat Solar
Park and the Kalpasar Project.[175] In an April 2014 statement
described as "unexpected", senior Pakistani diplomats told The Daily
Telegraph that Modi was their choice for prime Minister
"as he could provide the strong leadership necessary for peace
talks".[176]
Modi visited Japan in 2012. According to
Ryohei Kasai, research fellow at the Center for South Asian Studies at Gifu
Women's University, "There is a growing interest in Modi in
Japan with much anticipation that he will reshape India by revitalising its
economy and better governance. I believe Japan has an excellent relationship
with him. Not only have successive Japanese ambassadors to India been regular
guests in 'Vibrant Gujarat' investors' summit (organised biennially) but
Japanese private companies also made a big amount of investment in the
state."[177]
As prime minister
Further
information: Foreign
policy of Narendra Modi and List of Prime Ministerial trips made by Narendra Modi
Modi invited leaders of the SAARC countries
to his swearing-in as prime minister to strengthen ties among its member
states.[178] Continuing his efforts to
promote close relationships with neighbouring countries, his first foreign
visit as prime minister was to Bhutan. Modi visited Nepal on 8 August 2014,[179][180] and began a five-day trip
to Japan on 30 August.[181] On 17 September, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in India; financial memoranda
of understanding and cooperation agreements between the
countries were signed,[182] which Modi called a new
chapter in their economic relationship.[183] The prime minister had a
successful visit to the United States in the last week of
September, which led to an improvement in relations between India and the US.[184] In a 27 September address
to the United
Nations General Assembly Modi asked for the adoption
of 21 June as International
Yoga Day,[185] and a resolution doing so
was approved by the 193-member body.
Personal life
The third of six children, Modi has two elder
brothers, Som (b. 1944) and Amrit (b. 1948). He has a younger sister, Vasanti
(b. 1952) and two younger brothers, Prahlad (b. 1955) and Pankaj (b. 1958).[19]
In accordance with Ghanchi tradition, Modi's
marriage was arranged by his parents when he was a child. He was engaged at age
13 to Jashodaben Chimanlal, marrying her when he was 18. They spent little time
together and grew apart when Modi began two years of travel, including visits
to Hindu ashrams.[21][186] Reportedly, their marriage
was never consummated and he kept it a secret
because otherwise he could not have become a 'pracharak' in the puritan
Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).[187][44] Although Modi kept his
marriage secret for most of his career, acknowledging his wife when he filed
his nomination for a parliamentary seat in the 2014 general elections.[188][189]
Image
Modi wearing a suit with
his name embroidered in the pinstripes
A vegetarian,[190] Modi has a frugal lifestyle
and is a workaholic and introvert.[191] Adept at using social
media, since September 2014 he has been the second-most-followed leader in the
world (with over twelve million followers on Twitter as on May 2015).[192] [160][193] Modi's 31 August 2012 post
on Google Hangouts made him the first Indian politician to interact with netizens on live chat.[194][195]
Modi has also been called a fashion-icon with
his signature, crisply ironed, half-sleeved tunic-shirt (dubbed the "Modi kurta"), brand-name accessories, and a suit with his name
embroidered repeatedly in the pinstripes that he wore during a state visit by
US President Barack Obama, drawing particular public
and media attention, and sometimes criticism.[196][197][198]
Although he has been called a controversial,
polarising and divisive figure by media sources,[199][200][201] British economist Jim
O'Neill(author of "Building Better Global Economic BRICs") blogged that Modi is "good on economics"
– one of the things "India desperately needs in a leader".[202] In August 2013, financial
analyst Chris Wood of CLSA wrote in his weekly "Greed & fear"
report: "The Indian stock market's greatest hope is the emergence of
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the BJP's prime ministerial
candidate".[202]
Awards and recognitions
Modi received the Gujarat Ratna award at the
Ganesh Kala Krida Manch Shri Poona Gujarati Bandhu Samaj centenary celebration[203] and the e-Ratna Award from
the Computer
Society of India.[204] He was named Best Chief
Minister in a 2007 nationwide survey by India Today,[205] and won the Asian 2009 fDi
Personality of the Year award from FDi magazine.[206] In March 2012 Modi appeared
on the cover of the Asian edition of Time, one of the few Indian politicians to have
done so,[207] and made the 2014 Time 100 list of the world's most
influential people.[208] He has become the most
followed Asian leader on Twitter,[209] and in 2014 was ranked the 15th-most-powerful person in the world byForbes.[210] In 2015, Modi was one of Time 's "30 most
influential people on the internet" as the second-most-followed politician
on Twitter and Facebook.[211] In 2015, Modi was ranked
5th on Forbes magazine's list of 'World's
Greatest Leaders'.[212]
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