A look at Narendra Modi's rise to power in Gujarat

The tea-seller-turned-RSS organiser-turned-politician has led a charmed life, where many purportedly troublesome stances have not blown up in his face

"I am willing to suffer any punishment given by the country", Narendra Modi had said in his capacity as Prime Minister after introducing demonetisation in India. He was speaking about the effectiveness of the plan, whose success remains debatable to date. However, Modi, the tea-seller-turned-RSS organiser-turned-politician, has led a charmed life of sorts where many of his purportedly troublesome stances have not blown up in his face.

Modi is now campaigning in poll-bound Gujarat, where he served as the chief minister before becoming the nation's leader. He remains a favourite among the Bharatiya Janata Party's electoral base in the western state.

Modi's development model for Gujarat is the stuff of legends and something the party has cashed in on to gain votes in other parts of the country, promising similar development. Modi, in an interview with Andy Marino had said of his famous Gujarat model, "India is vast and varied and you must remember to adjust policies to local conditions and free people to make their own decisions-get government off their back." However, Anand Teltumbde writing for EPW has argued that Modi's vibrant Gujarat is a carefully orchestrated PR stunt. During Modi's tenure, huge sums were publicised in the memoranda as committed investments, but actual materialisation stayed at 25 per cent in 2003, barely at par with Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Gujarat was also one of the most industrialised states in India long before Modi came to power in the state.

In some ways, Chimanbhai Patel, at the helm of the state before Modi, in his attempt to draw focus away from the caste divide, foregrounded development projects in Gujarat paving the way for the saffron leader to perfect his Gujarat model.

Gujarat, which was once a Congress stronghold, has remained under BJP control since 1995. However, the likes of Kesubhai Patel never quite enjoyed the same popularity as Modi, whose image as a decisive leader helped him further his prime ministerial ambitions eventually.

Read | Those spreading hatred, defaming Gujarat will be swept out of state in Assembly polls: PM Modi

Ahead of Gujarat polls, where BJP is looking to thwart its chief rival Congress and the new threat, Kejriwal's AAP, here is a look at Narendra Modi's rise to power in the state.

Modi's journey from RSS to BJP

Modi was born in Gujarat's Vadnagar where his father had a tea stall and where the PM served customers as a child, as he's narrated. At eight, Modi joined the local RSS branch and became a permanent member in the 1960s. He became a pracharak in 1972. The following year, Modi was part of the Navnirman protest movement against corruption in the government, after the RSS deputed Modi to one of the local ABVP branches.

He was enrolled at the Gujarat University for a Master's at the time, after completing his Bachelor's via correspondence from Delhi University. The latter was disputed by AAP though DU confirmed the degree to be authentic. In 1975, he went underground, as many RSS cadres were being imprisoned for protesting the Emergency declared by the Indira Gandhi government. However, Modi continued to agitate, distributing anti-government tracts undercover while soliciting help from Gujaratis abroad.

In 1978, Modi became 'vibhag pracharak' (head of an RSS branch in a division made up of several districts) and then became a 'sambhag pracharak' (head of a branch of the RSS in a territory made up of more than one division). Modi was in charge of the Surat and Vadodara RSS. Modi was made 'prant pracharak' in 1981 and as the main RSS organiser in the state, Modi was also behind a whole series of yatras or pilgrimages.

When L K Advani became BJP president in 1986, he decided to enlist Modi's services, deputising him to the saffron party in 1987. However, Modi remains an RSS member to this day.

Modi's rise in the BJP

Modi started off as the sangathan mantri (organisation secretary) at the head of the party's Gujarat branch and was also responsible for the state's leg of Advani's 1990 Rath Yatra. He also took responsibility for the municipal election campaign which saw BJP win in Ahmedabad in 1987.

In 1995, BJP won the Assembly elections for the first time and Modi was largely credited with the victory, buoying him to the post of state general secretary of the BJP. He then became the national BJP secretary in charge of Himachal Pradesh. Then, in 1998, when the party president changed, Modi was made the secretary-general.

Modi's talents lay in organising which is why he was hesitant in taking up Atal Bihari Vajpayee's offer to replace Kesubhai and become Gujarat's next CM. However, Modi relieved Kesubhai of the post in the fall of 2001. The earthquake in Kutch dealt a major blow to Kesubhai's tenure and Modi became the new CM face in the state. For the January bypoll, Modi wanted to contest from Ahmedabad’s Ellis Bridge, one of the safest seats but eventually settled for equally safe Rajkot, sealing his fate as the CM of the state.

Modi in Maninagar

Thereafter, he has contested from Maninagar, where the RSS is headquartered and where Modi spent a considerable amount of time in his early political life.

Modi has had three terms as the chief minister before he went on to become the prime minister. In 2002, Modi secured 1,13,589 votes, beating out Congress's Yatinbhai Oza who only bagged 38,256 votes. In 2007, Modi managed to get 1,39,568 votes and in 2012, he got 1,20,470 votes.

However, The Indian Express reported that Modi's development model does not seem to have touched all parts of Maninagar. Millatnagar, a Muslim pocket in the assembly constituency, has been largely ignored by the BJP.

The 'burning' question of the 2002 riots

Muslims being ignored or even ostracised in Gujarat is not news considering the frail communal relations in the state for decades. However, a match was lit to the powder keg in 2002 after the train from Ayodhya caught fire in Godhra.

Muslims were blamed and many have pointed the finger at Modi for not doing enough during the communal crisis. Some have also hinted that the then-CM directly instigated the riots. "Citing Newton’s Third Law: 'Every action has an equal and opposite reaction', Mr Modi gave the rioters the cue they needed", Edward Luce wrote for Financial Times.

He also made the anti-Muslim pitch his core strategy in the 2002 election, capitalising on the already mobilised Hindus to clinch a landslide victory.

The US and UK allowed Modi back on their lands shortly before he became PM. Modi has also been cleared of all allegations of wrongdoing in the 2002 riots by the Supreme Court.

Reuters, in 2017, reported that fifteen years after the Godhra riots, Muslims are still trying to flee the Gujarat ghettos. Haren Pandya, Gujarat's home minister in 2002, told Outlook that Modi had instructed officials to stay out of the way of the rioting mobs and allow them to vent their frustrations. Pandya resigned in August 2002 and was murdered the following year.

Senior police officer Sanjiv Bhatt, who corroborated Pandya's version of events and said Amit Shah had instructed him to destroy evidence in Pandya's killing case, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life after the Gujarat government changed its stance on a 1990 death-in-custody case.

Modi's popularity and his image among a section of Indians as the nation's saviour is the core of the BJP's pitch in this year's elections. The recent mishap at Morbi has cast a pall on the state's apparent efficiency and superior infrastructure. CM Bhupendra Patel faced a slew of agitations and was forced to organise a ministerial committee to address the same. However, some of these issues remain while solutions to others have not been too satisfactory.

The BJP this time is looking to improve performances among OBCs, Adivasis, and Dalits - and Modi, true to his oratory form, kicked off the Gujarat campaign for 2022, saying "For me, A stands for Adivasi".

Opinion polls, thus far, have indicated that the BJP will return to power in Gujarat. The saffron party doesn't intend to lose its stronghold of decades.