Modi, Narendra (1950-…), became prime minister of India in 2014. He heads the conservative Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He previously was the head of government of the northwestern state of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014.
Modi was born on Sept. 17, 1950, in the village of Vadnagar, in northern Gujarat. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Delhi University and a master’s degree in political science from Gujarat University.
In the 1970’s, Modi became active in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu nationalist organization allied with the BJP. He became a member of the BJP in 1986. He became the party’s national general secretary in 1998.
In January 2001, an earthquake struck Gujarat, killing some 20,000 people. Many observers criticized the state’s chief minister, a member of the BJP, for his slow response to the disaster. That October, the BJP appointed Modi as the new chief minister.
In February 2002, violence erupted between Hindus and Muslims following an altercation at a train station in the Gujarat village of Godhra. Violence continued for two months, killing more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. Many observers accused Modi’s government of not doing enough to stop the violence. Some accused Modi of actively encouraging attacks on Muslims. Despite widespread criticism, Modi remained popular in Gujarat. He served as chief minister until 2014. His government was credited with maintaining steady economic growth in the state.
In 2013, the BJP named Modi as the head of its election campaign for the upcoming 2014 general elections and its choice for prime minister. After the BJP won a majority in India’s Lok Sabha, the larger and more important house in the nation’s Parliament, Modi became prime minister. His policies emphasized the economy and social services. He also supported Hindu culture and strong nationalism.
The BJP won a majority again in the 2019 elections, and Modi began a second term as prime minister. The BJP has historically supported the idea of India as a Hindu nation. For example, it advocated eliminating the special status that gave the mostly-Muslim state of Jammu and Kashmir in northern India more control over its own affairs than other states enjoyed. Soon after the election, the Indian government revoked this special status. The BJP-dominated Parliament then split the state into two parts—the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the union territory of Ladakh. The national government has more authority over union territories than over states.
In late 2019, Parliament passed a controversial citizenship law that provided a pathway to citizenship for Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Parsis, and Sikhs who had fled to India from the Muslim-majority nations of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. However, the law did not include Muslims. Its passage sparked protests both from those opposed to opening citizenship to illegal immigrants and from groups who said it violated the Constitution’s guarantee of religious tolerance by discriminating against Muslims.
In the 2024 parliamentary elections, the BJP failed to win a majority. However, the parties of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a coalition led by the BJP, won enough seats for a majority. As the leader of the alliance, Modi won a third term as prime minister.
