Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the prime minister of India since 26 May 2014. He was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the member of Parliament for Varanasi. A member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he is India's third-longest-serving prime minister and the longest-serving prime minister outside the Indian National Congress.
Biography
Narendra Modi grew up in Vadnagar in Gujarat and joined the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a young man. He moved into the Bharatiya Janata Party and became Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001, a post he held until 2014.
His time in Gujarat was marked by the 2002 communal riots, in which more than a thousand people, most of them Muslims, were killed; his government was criticised for its response. He was also credited with strong economic growth in the state.
Modi led the BJP to an outright majority in the 2014 general election and became Prime Minister of India. His governments introduced the 2016 demonetisation, a national goods and services tax, the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status in 2019 and large infrastructure programs. He won a second majority in 2019 and a third term in 2024 at the head of a coalition.