Before and Into the POLITICS NARENDRA MODI

Life of NaMo before BJP:

Narendra Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar, Mehsana district, in Bombay State (present-day Gujarat).His family belonged to the Ghanchi (oil-presser) community, which is categorised among the other backward classes by the Indian government. He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand and Heeraben Modi.As a child, he helped his father Damodardas sell tea at the Vadnagar railway station, and later ran a tea stall with his brother near a bus terminus.He completed his higher secondary schooling in Vadnagar in 1967, where a teacher described him as being an average student, but a keen debater with an interest in theatre.An early gift for rhetoric in debates was noted by teachers and students at the time.Modi also showed a preference for playing larger than life characters in theatre performances which has influenced the image he portrays of himself in politics.

At the age of eight, Modi came into contact with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and began attending its local shakhas, or training sessions. There he met Lakshmanrao Inamdar, popularly known as Vakil Saheb, who was to become Modi's political mentor. Inamdar inducted Modi as a balswayamsevak, or junior cadet in the RSS.While training with the RSS, he also met Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders who were later founding members of the BJP's Gujarat unit in 1980.

In keeping with the traditions of the Ghanchi caste, Modi's marriage was arranged by his parents while he was still a child. He was engaged at the age of 13 to Jashodaben Chimanlal, and married when he was 18. They spent little time together, and were soon estranged when Modi began two years of travels (including visits to Hindu ashrams).The marriage was reportedly never consummated.Modi kept the marriage secret for most of his career, only acknowledging the existence of his wife when filing his nomination for a parliamentary seat in the 2014 general elections.

Little is known of the time he spent traveling; however, in interviews Modi has spoken of visiting various Hindu ashrams, or places of Hindu religious learning, founded by Swami Vivekananda. The first of these was the Belur Math near Kolkata. He later visited the Advaita Ashrama in Almora, and the Ramakrishna mission in Rajkot. However he was only able to stay for a short period in each ashram, as he lacked a college education, and the institutions were strictly limited to postgraduates.After two years of travel, Modi returned to Vadnagar, and after a brief visit left again for Ahmedabad. Here he lived with his uncle and worked at a canteen also run by his uncle at the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation.In Ahmedabad, Modi renewed his acquaintance with Inamdar, who was then based at Hedgewar Bhavan, the RSS headquarters in the city.After the end of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he stopped working for his uncle and became a full–time pracharak (campaigner) of the RSS.In 1978, Modi became a sambhaag pracharak (regional organiser) for the RSS, and also graduated with an extramural degree in political science through a distance education course at Delhi University.In 1983, he completed his Master of Arts degree in political science from Gujarat University.

Early GUJARAT Politics of NaMo:

On 26 June 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a unilateral state of emergency throughout the country, which lasted until 1977. During this period, many of her political opponents were jailed, and organisations opposing her, including the RSS, were banned.At the time, Modi was the pracharak in-charge of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS. He was forced to go underground in Gujarat, and frequently traveled in disguise to avoid being arrested. He became involved in printing booklets against the central government and distributing them to Delhi, as well as organising agitations.During this period, he also wrote a book in Gujarati titled Sangharsh ma Gujarat (The struggles of Gujarat) which described events during the emergency.


The RSS assigned Modi to the BJP in 1985.In 1988, Modi was elected an organising secretary of BJP's Gujarat unit, marking his formal entry into electoral politics.He rose to prominence within the party after helping organise L. K. Advani's Ayodhya Rath Yatra in 1990 and Murli Manohar Joshi's Ekta Yatra (Journey for Unity) in 1991–92.His electoral strategy as secretary was seen to be central to the BJP's victory in the 1995 state assembly elections.Later in the same year in November, Modi was elected National Secretary of the BJP, and was transferred to New Delhi where he was assigned responsibility for the party's activities in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.In 1996, Shankersinh Vaghela, one of the most prominent leaders of the BJP in Gujarat, defected to the INC after he lost his parliamentary seat in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. While on the selection committee for the 1998 Assembly elections in Gujarat, Modi favoured supporters of another BJP leader, Keshubhai Patel, over those loyal to Vaghela, in an attempt to put an end to the factional divisions within the party. His strategies were credited as being key to the BJP winning an overall majority in the 1998 elections.As a result, Modi was promoted to the post of general secretary (Organisation) of the BJP in May 1998.

First time as CHIEF MINISTER OF GUJARAT'S: 

In 2001, Keshubhai Patel's health was failing, and the BJP had lost seats in the by-elections. Allegations of abuse of power, corruption and poor administration were being made, and Patel's standing had been damaged by his administration's handling of the Bhuj Earthquake of 2001.As a result, the BJP's national leadership sought a new candidate for the office of chief minister, and Modi, who had aired his misgivings about Patel's administration, was chosen as a replacement.L. K. Advani, a senior leader of the BJP, did not want to ostracise Patel and was worried about Modi's lack of experience in governance. Modi declined an offer to be Patel's deputy chief minister, informing Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee that he was "going to be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all", and on 3 October 2001, Modi was named as the replacement of Patel as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, with the responsibility of preparing the BJP for elections in December 2002.As Chief Minister, Modi's ideas of governance revolved around privatisation and small government, which stood at odds with what political commentator Aditi Phadnis has described as the anti-privatisation, anti-globalisation position of the RSS.

On 7 October 2001, Modi was administered the oath of office by the Sunder Singh Bhandari, Governor of Gujarat.He then contested election from Rajkot - II assembly constituency in a by-poll and won by defeating Congress's Ashwin Mehta by 14,728 votes.