Narendra Modi is India’s 14th prime minister and has been in power since May 2014. He is the first prime minister to have been born after Independence. Modi is a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and has served as Gujarat Chief Minister from 2001 to 2014. His Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi, though, is in Uttar Pradesh, and Modi has represented this seat since 2014.
Narendra Modi joined the RSS, the BJP’s ideological parent, in the 1970s and joined the BJP in 1987. The following year he was chosen as the party’s general secretary for Gujarat. Modi took oath as Gujarat CM in 2001, after replacing Keshubhai Patel, who was held responsible for the government’s poor response to the Bhuj earthquake. Modi contested his first-ever election in 2002, shortly after which the Gujarat riots fueled controversy over his leadership. The Supreme Court in 2022 gave a clean chit to Modi and 63 others in a plea exploring a larger conspiracy behind the riots.
One hopes its inauguration was not rushed through.