On September 17, 1950, Narendra Damodar das Modi was born in Vadnagar, Gujarat. He is an Indian politician who rose to become a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Since 2014, he is serving as the Prime Minister of India and prior to it he had served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat state from 2001 to 2014.
Modi was raised in a small town in Northern Gujarat, and he completed an M.A. degree in political science from Gujarat University in Ahmadabad. He joined the pro-Hindu Rashtriya Swayamasevak Sangh (RSS) organization in the early on October 3, 1972.
In June 1975,Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposes a period of emergency as she faces a political crisis. Civil liberties are restricted, media is censored, and protesters are arrested. Modi becomes involved in the movement to restore those rights. In 1987, he enters the mainstream politics and joined the BJP as organization secretary of the Gujarat unit in western India and a year later he was made the general secretary of the Gujarat branch of the party.
On October3, 1995, he was appointed as the Secretary of the BJP’s national unit. On January 5, 1998, he got promoted to the national general secretary of Bhartiya Janata Party or BJP.
In October, 2001, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajyapee named him as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. After becoming the CM of Gujarat in his second term in 2002, he focused on the economic development of the state and makes it an attractive destination for businessmen and industrialists.
In February 2002,at least 58 people died in a fire on board a train carrying Hindu pilgrims. The train had stopped briefly at a station in Gujarat where the local population was majority-Muslim. The Gujarat Government would later find that the fire was intentionally set, part of a pre-planned attack, and that those responsible were Muslim. Riots erupt in the days following the fire and Modi was accused of condoning the violent protests that kill approximately 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. So, in 2005,the United States declined to issue a diplomatic visa to Modi for his suspected role in the 2002 riots.
In his third term of CM in 2007, Narendra Modi improved the agricultural growth rate, provided electricity to all villages and fortifies the rapid development of the state. After becoming the PM of India, he has initiated several ambitious and important projects like “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”, “Make in India”, “Clean Ganga” etc. He also tried to improve bilateral relations with other countries of the world. He has also shown great interest in strengthening ties with the neighboring countries.
In June 2013,Modi was chosen as the BJP party leader andcampaigned for the 2014 general elections. He took the oath as CM which is his fourth term but later he resigned in 2014 from an assembly. Narendra Modi contested 2014 Lok Sabha elections for the first time. He won the election by large margin and sworn in as the Prime Minister of India on 26 May, 2014 by taking the oath of office.
From September 27, 2014 to September 30, 2014, Modi made his first visit to the United States as prime minister and met with President Barack Obama. On December 8, 2014, Modi won a Time magazine reader’s poll person of the year.
During the period of January 25-27, 2015,Obama became the first sitting US president to visit India twice. During the three-day visit, Obama and Modi negotiated a civil nuclear deal, a ten-year defence cooperation agreement between the two countries.
On December 25, 2015 – Modi visited Pakistan and met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. It was the first time an Indian prime minister had visited Pakistan in almost 12 years.
On June 8, 2016, addressing a joint session of the US Congress, Modi spoke about the continuing growth of US-India relations. On June 26, 2017, the PM met with US President Donald Trump for the first time at the White House. On July 4, 2017, he became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Israel, arriving in Tel Aviv as part of a three-day visit to mark 25 years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel.
On August 15, 2018, during his Independence Day speech to the nation, Modi announced that India would launch its first manned mission to space by 2022. On May 23, 2019, in a landslide victory, the BJP wins 303 seats in the general election. On May 30, 2019,he sworn in for a second term as India’s prime minister.
However, on August 5, 2019, tensions between India and Pakistan increased after Modi announced that India would revoke a constitutional provision giving the state of Jammu and Kashmir autonomy to set its own laws. In the wake of the announcement, widespread communications blackouts were reported in the Muslim-majority region.
On August 8, 2019,Modi delivered a televised address in which he claimed that revoking Kashmir’s autonomous status would promote stability, reduce corruption and boost the economy. Pakistan’s foreign minister said that the country would remain vigilant, but no military options were being considered. The United Nations issued a statement calling on both countries to resolve the issue peacefully while respecting human rights in the region.
On December 11, 2019, theParliament passed a controversial bill that would fast-track citizenship for religious minorities including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Opposition parties said that the bill was unconstitutional as it bases citizenship on a person’s religion and would further marginalize India’s Muslim community. Modi expressed his support for the measure via Twitter, saying that this Bill would alleviate the suffering of many who faced persecution for years.
On December 19, 2019, deadly protests erupted in at least 15 cities against the citizenship law, despite bans on public gatherings in several areas. At least three people died amid the violence, as thousands participated in demonstrations. On December 22, 2019, Modi delivered a speech railing against the protests. On September 3, 2020,Modi’s Twitter account appeared to be hacked, prompting an investigation by the social media company. The account, which has 2.5 million followers, is one of a handful of verified accounts connected to the prime minister.
The apparent hack comes more than a month after a massive hack that resulted in some of the most prominent accounts on the platform, including those tied to Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Elon Musk, being compromised.
This day marks the 70th birthday of the successful Prime Minister who took some of the most remarkable decisions in history as a part of development in the country.
