Modi right person to lead India: Shanta Kumar

Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister and senior BJP leader Shanta Kumar today defended the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on his "toilets first, temples later" remark, saying the Gujarat Chief Minister is the "right person" to lead the country. 

"Modi is the right person to lead India as he is going in the right direction to benefit the masses. This will naturally irritate the opponents," Kumar said in a statement issued at Palampur near here. 

Praising Modi for highlighting the need for toilets over temples, Kumar said, "It is really a matter of pride that Narendra Modi has established himself as the central point of Indian politics and directing the nation for needed debates over his ideas". 

Criticising those who object the idea of toilets above temples "for the sake of political gains," Kumar said, "everybody has to start the daily routine from toilets before entering the temples, and when the majority doesn't have hygienic toilet conditions, how can they worship the Lord with purity." 

He further said, "it is really a sorry state, that we are unable to provide clean toilets to nearly 60 per cent of the population even after 65 years of Independence." 

Attacking the Centre for not being able to provide clean toilets, Kumar said that the government is eager to provide mobiles and laptops to public instead of addressing their need for proper sanitation and that 50 per cent of diseases spread due to lack of such facilities. 

Noting that Modi is following in the footsteps of Swami Vivekananda, Kumar said "after feeling the horrible state of poverty in rural India, a person like Swami Vivekananda left the idea of 'Moksha' and helped 'Daridranarayana' (poorest of the poor)."

Narendra Damodardas Modi

Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is the 14th and current Chief Minister of Gujarat, a state in western India, representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP and the NDA for the upcoming 2014 Indian general elections.
Modi was a key strategist for the BJP in the successful 1995 and 1998 Gujarat state election campaigns. He first became chief minister of Gujarat in October 2001, being promoted to the office upon the resignation of his predecessor, Keshubhai Patel, following the defeat of BJP in by-elections. In July 2007, he became the longest-serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history when he had been in power for 2,063 days continuously. He is currently into his fourth consecutive term as Chief Minister.
Modi is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and is described as a Hindu nationalist by scholars and himself. Modi is a controversial figure both within India and internationally. While his administration has been criticised for the incidents surrounding the 2002 Gujarat violence, he has also been praised for his economic policies which are credited with creating the environment for the high economic growth in Gujarat.

Early life and education

Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar in Mehsana district of what was then Bombay State (present-day Gujarat), India. He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife, Heeraben. While a teenager, Modi ran a tea stall with his brother around a bus terminus. He completed his schooling in Vadnagar, where a teacher described him as being an average student but a keen debater.
He began work in the staff canteen of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC), where he stayed till he became a full–time pracharak (propagator) of the RSS. After Modi had received some RSS training in Nagpur, which was a prerequisite for taking up an official position in the Sangh Parivar, he was given charge of Sangh's student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), in Gujarat. Modi organised agitations and covert distribution of Sangh's pamphlets during the Emergency. During his years in the RSS, Modi came in touch with Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, leaders of the Jan Sangh, who later founded the BJP's Gujarat state unit. Modi remained a pracharak in the RSS while he completed his Master's degree in political science from Gujarat University.

Early political career

The RSS seconded Modi to the BJP in 1987. While Shankarsingh Vaghela and Keshubhai Patel were the established names in the BJP, Modi rose to prominence after organising Murli Manohar Joshi's Ekta yatra (journey for unity). His electoral strategy was central to BJP's victory in the 1995 state elections.
Modi became the General 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. Vaghela, who had threatened to break away from BJP in 1995, defected from the BJP after he lost the 1996 Lok Sabha elections. In 1998, Modi was promoted to the post of National Secretary of the BJP. While selecting candidates for the 1998 state elections in Gujarat, Modi sidelined people who were loyal to Vaghela and rewarded those who favoured Patel, thus ending factional divisions within the party. His strategies were key to winning those elections.

Personality and image

Modi is a vegetarian. He is known for leading a frugal lifestyle and has a personal staff of three. He is known to be a workaholic and an introvert. He also writes poems in Gujarati. He is a crowd-puller as a speaker. He wears "business suits to business meetings, instead of homespun tunics. He still lampoons the urban, English-speaking elite, but he is also honing his English skills." Modi is seen as a "protector" by his supporters.
Modi has been labelled by the media and some articles in peer reviewed journals as a controversial, polarising, and divisive figure.

Awards and recognitions

• Gujarat Ratna by Shri Poona Gujarati Bandhu Samaj at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch on celebration of centenary year.
• e-Ratna award by the Computer Society of India
• Best Chief Minister – In a nationwide survey conducted in 2006 by India Today magazine, Narendra Modi was declared the Best Chief Minister in the country.
• Asian Winner of the fDi Personality of the Year Award for 2009 by FDi magazine.
• In March 2012, Modi appeared on the cover of the Asian edition of the Time magazine, one of India's few politicians to have done so. His leadership was described as being strong and businesslike; one that could guide India towards honesty and efficiency.

The rise of Narendra Modi

Unpretentiously and ruthlessly ambitious, vindictive, authoritarian, unpredictable and totally impervious to scruples - these are some of the epithets used by political rivals to describe Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Despite this, he is the darling of the masses, at least in Gujarat, where he was victorious for the third time in arow.

On Friday, the BJP waved the green flag to take him a step closer to becoming the darling of the nation.

In doing so, the party quashed the dreams of the man who laid the foundation of the party. L K Advani, Modi's political guru and godfather, who tried valiantly to delay the inevitable announcement, stood his ground even as the party and the RSS gave the final push to make way for Modi.

The party celebrated as if Modi has already become the prime minister. However, Modi symbolises divisiveness and infighting not only within the party, but also outside. If chief ministers like Keshubhai Patel and Suresh Mehta and rivals like Shankarsinh Vaghela were forced to leave the party, party general secretary, Sanjay Joshi claims to be a victim of Modi's alleged vindictiveness.

One of the BJP's closest allies, the JD(U) has already parted ways with it and potential allies that have Muslim supporters are wary of him.

Despite a bevy of leaders such as Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley, apart from LK Advani, at the Centre, Modi has forced his way to become the PM candidate.

The child who made tea for RSS men 

Narendra Modi in NCC during his childhood days

But for all the political brouhaha, Modi's ascent from someone who served tea at the Vadnagar station as a child, who cleaned up the Hedgewar Bhawan and made tea and snacks for senior RSS men, had been modest.

Modi formally joined the RSS after 1971. Reports claim that Modi had also gone underground during the Emergency undertaking risky jobs. His organisational and analytical skills saw him rise swiftly as an RSS pracharak. His first success came when he helped the BJP win the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation elections in 1986. Seniors noticed his organisational skills.

When Advani decided to embark on a yatra to Ayodhya, he handpicked Modi to help him organise the same. In fact, Modi was believed to be the brains behind the yatra.

When the BJP first tasted power in Gujarat in 1995, and Keshubhai Patel became its chief minister, Modi took charge of the anti-room of the chief minister. He was known as the "super chief-minister" and was believed to be running the administration and giving orders. This was not liked by Shankarsinh Vaghela, a man who along with Keshubhai was believed to have laid the foundation of the party in the state. The tussle for power saw Modi banished to Delhi and Suresh Mehta anointed as chief minister. As general secretary of the BJP, Modi helped the party win elections in Himachal Pradesh.

From Pariah to CM 

After a brief stint by Shankarsinh Vaghela and Dilip Parikh as CMs, Keshubhai Patel came back to power in 1998. By then, Modi had become a pariah for BJP in the state. All along, Modi was biding his time, sitting patiently in Delhi, building his pride and plotting his moves. The opportunity struck just when Keshubhai's political fortunes began to dip.

Despite having the support of 116 MLS, losses in the bye elections in parliamentary and assembly seats in the state were used as an excuse by Advani to anoint Modi as the chief minister in 2001. It had taken him five years to remove the tag of super chief minister and become the chief minister.

At a time when Modi's political career appeared to be drifting, opportunity once again placed itself in March 2002. Godhra and its aftermath gave the push that made Modi the Hindu Hriday samrat to become the man of the masses. His oratory skills won him many followers and his administrative skills and the image of being incorruptible soon spread across the country. This and the tag of a development man of Gujarat soon made Modi a national leader. But the taint of Godhra has remained with Modi. Despite several countries having been ready to forgive and forget, the reported excesses during the Godhra supported by the administration, a visa to USA remains an enigma for Modi.

No stranger to controversy 

Modi has been dogged by controversy. A string of fake encounters points towards involvement of political bosses of Gujarat. Several top leaders left the party and the killing of Haren Pandya, once was Modi's man, under mysterious circumstances after he allegedly deposed before the Concerned Citizens' Tribunal. of the political bosses, added to the controversies.

Modi had been openly named by father of Haren Pandya as being responsible for his killing, is also believed to behind the leak of a "fake" video of former party general secretary Sanjay Joshi in an inappropriate liaison with a woman. He is the man who is believed to have stalled the appointment of the Lokayukta in the state after allegations of corruption of thousands of crores. He is believed to be a man who does not forget. But he remains a man of the masses.

If elected, Modi will be the first PM to be born after 1947

Courtesy: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/news/india/The-rise-and-rise-of-Narendra-Modi/articleshow/22567485.cms

Narendra Modi's site: http://www.narendramodi.in/