Narendra Modi

Narendra Damodardas Modi, born 17 September 1950 in Vadnagar, Gujarat, is the 14th Prime Minister of India. He rose through the ranks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation, before becoming Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014. His tenure in Gujarat was marked by rapid economic growth but also by the 2002 Gujarat riots, in which over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed; a Supreme Court–appointed Special Investigation Team found no prosecutable evidence against him in 2012, a finding upheld by the Supreme Court in 2022.

Modi led the BJP to a decisive victory in the 2014 general election, the first single-party majority in the Lok Sabha since 1984, and was re-elected with an expanded majority in 2019. In 2024, his BJP-led National Democratic Alliance returned to power, though the BJP itself lost its single-party majority, forcing greater reliance on coalition partners.

Key policy actions under his governments include:

• Demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes in November 2016.
• Introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 2017.
• Abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019, revoking Jammu and Kashmir's special status.
• Passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019.
• The Ayodhya Ram Mandir consecration in January 2024.

In foreign policy, Modi has deepened ties with the United States, Japan, and Australia through the Quad, while maintaining strategic relations with Russia and navigating a tense border standoff with China following the 2020 Galwan Valley clash. India hosted the G20 summit in New Delhi in September 2023 during his chairmanship. Critics, including Freedom House and V-Dem, have flagged democratic backsliding under his rule; supporters credit him with infrastructure expansion, digital public goods like UPI, and elevated global stature.