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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Narendra Modi: The Indian Leader Who Came In From The Cold


 For many Indians, Narendra Modi is the man of the moment, a possible prime minister. Others see the chief minister of western Gujarat state.
As the 62-year-old moved from village to village on the campaign trail this month, he was greeted by ecstatic crowds, surging forward to catch a glimpse or to touch him as though he were a living god.
Not only expected to win a fourth consecutive term as chief minister in December polls, Modi is also seen as a serious contender to take on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in national elections due in 2014 if he wins convincingly in Gujarat.
"Look at how many people are here," Modi said in an interview in his campaign bus, pointing and waving at a crowd of thousands assembled in Alina village. "They're even standing on the rooftops in this heat," he said, tapping a Reuters photographer's shoulder, indicating to him to take more snaps.
His administration was seen as culpable, and for years Modi was a political pariah, vilified at home and shunned by the West.
His slow rehabilitation has been thanks in large part to projecting the administrative efficiency that the rest of India seems to lack. Gujarat is an investor favourite, attracting global firms such as Ford Motor Co, while Modi has benefited from a concerted image makeover.
In a sign of his growing clout, the British ambassador to India went to Gujarat to visit Modi last week. It was a policy turnaround on London's part, and a major boost in Modi's quest to be accepted as a mainstream political leader.
The question now is whether Modi can build on this momentum and use Gujarat's high growth to overcome the deep distrust and fear of many Indians, especially Muslims.
"Narendra Modi may be the darling of India's entrepreneurs and he's perhaps the only person who a whole bunch of well-heeled industrialists have openly said that they would like to see as the prime minister of India," said political analyst Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.

VINDICTIVE STREAK
Interviews with officials in Modi's government and local business leaders paint a picture of a man with a phenomenal memory, great attention to detail, unflagging energy and a flair for publicity.
A company executive, who has met the chief minister several times, recalls leaving one of Modi's functions early - only to be reminded about this when they met again, months later.
"He remembers every little detail," the executive said. "Nothing escapes him."
Narendra Modi was born to lower middle class parents in northern Gujarat. As a youth, he worked in his family's tea stall, according to a sympathetic biography.
After some years wandering through the Himalayas on a journey of spiritual discovery, Modi rose through the ranks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu nationalist organisation that is the ideological parent of the BJP.
A stocky, bespectacled man with a trimmed white beard, Modi is known for his ascetic lifestyle and enthusiasm for yoga. Modi first became chief minister in October, 2001.
DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH
Modi's star has steadily risen in the past decade, and he could represent the BJP's best chance to defeat India's ruling Congress party.
"Gujarat is in such a position where I don't have to make any special effort to build investors' confidence," he told Reuters. "Gujarat has already won a huge amount of confidence, not only nationally, but globally too."
While national economic growth has slowed sharply, Modi's Gujarat has achieved the double-digit expansion to which India aspires as a rising global power. In contrast to huge power shortages that plague most of India, the state boasts uninterrupted electricity supply.
Companies have lauded Modi for the ease of doing business in Gujarat, the speed with which land can be acquired for factories and a comparative absence of bureaucratic delays that can throttle projects elsewhere.
Rasesh Desai, managing director at the $112 million-a-year tea group Wagh Bakri, praised Modi's energy and how quickly his government processed clearances for expanding an existing plant.
"If you meet him at six o'clock in the morning and again at eleven o'clock at night: same Modi," Desai told Reuters. "He'll not feel tired."
Sceptics have questioned how much Gujarat owes its prosperity to the current administration, arguing that the state has long been known as one of India's growth drivers.
But even Modi's critics acknowledge his ability to pitch Gujarat as a go-to destination for new businesses, holding investor summits every two years that attract some of the country's biggest business tycoons.
Modi has also made concerted efforts to project himself as a moderate. He is trying to promote religious harmony and has toned down his speeches, shifting their focus from Hindu revivalist rhetoric to trumpeting investment.

8 comments:

  1. Thanks for the great post...Thanks for writing lots of think about Narendra Modi...We are supporting Narendra Modi ji too....
    Narendra modi biography :A visionary leader who sows dreams in millions of hearts and helps realize them, Shri Narendra Modi is an architect of the unstoppable growth saga of Gujarat, serving as its Chief Minister.

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  2. Narendra Modi is successful leader in Gujarat. Lot of people requires his service for nation including me. In this stage(India) people requires leaders not political leaders.

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  3. He is best leader who had did lots of thing for his state. Hope that he would be our prime minister.

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  4. i wish west bengal had some one like him !!!!!!! i truly admire him and amazed by the progress made by Gujrat till today!

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  5. narendra modi is the only genuine leader that cares for his people.He is more interested in their wellbeing and welfare,unlike the Congress leaders .

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  6. very sweet blog and it content very useful information also so it is the right combination of information and printing keep doing that in future also..

    narendra modi news

    ReplyDelete
  7. Narendra Modi is the next PM of INDIA.

    narendra modi news

    ReplyDelete

 

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