1. Narendra Modi is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a far-right Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organisation.
143 Facts About Narendra Modi
1. 2.
Narendra Modi is the longest-serving prime minister outside the Indian National Congress.
3.
Narendra Modi was born and raised in Vadnagar in northeastern Gujarat, where he completed his secondary education.
4.
Narendra Modi was introduced to the RSS at the age of eight.
5.
Narendra Modi became a full-time worker for the RSS in Gujarat in 1971.
6.
In 2001, Narendra Modi was appointed chief minister of Gujarat and elected to the legislative assembly soon after.
7.
Narendra Modi's administration is considered complicit in the 2002 Gujarat riots, and has been criticised for its management of the crisis.
8.
Narendra Modi's administration increased direct foreign investment, and reduced spending on healthcare, education, and social-welfare programmes.
9.
Narendra Modi began a high-profile sanitation campaign, and weakened or abolished environmental and labour laws.
10.
Narendra Modi's administration launched the 2019 Balakot airstrike against an alleged terrorist training camp in Pakistan.
11.
Narendra Modi oversaw India's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which, according to the World Health Organization's estimates, 4.7 million Indians died.
12.
Narendra Modi has been described as engineering a political realignment towards right-wing politics.
13.
Narendra Modi remains a controversial figure domestically and internationally, over his Hindu nationalist beliefs and handling of the Gujarat riots, which have been cited as evidence of a majoritarian and exclusionary social agenda.
14.
Narendra Damodardas Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a Gujarati Hindu family of Other Backward Class background in Vadnagar, Mehsana district, Bombay State.
15.
Narendra Modi had infrequently worked as a child in his father's tea business on the Vadnagar railway station platform, according to Narendra Modi and his neighbours.
16.
Narendra Modi completed his higher secondary education in Vadnagar in 1967; his teachers described him as an average student and a keen, gifted debater with an interest in theatre.
17.
Narendra Modi preferred playing larger-than-life characters in theatrical productions, which has influenced his political image.
18.
When Narendra Modi was eight years old, he was introduced to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and began attending its local shakhas.
19.
Narendra Modi spent the following two years travelling across northern and north-eastern India.
20.
Narendra Modi's stays at each ashram were brief because he lacked the required college education.
21.
In mid 1968, Narendra Modi reached Belur Math but was turned away, after which he visited Calcutta, West Bengal and Assam, stopping in Siliguri and Guwahati.
22.
Narendra Modi then went to the Ramakrishna Ashram in Almora, where he was again rejected, before returning to Gujarat via Delhi and Rajasthan in 1968 to 1969.
23.
The Indira Gandhi-led central government prohibited open support for the Mukti Bahini; according to Narendra Modi, he was briefly held in Tihar Jail.
24.
Shortly before the war, Narendra Modi took part in a non-violent protest in New Delhi against the Indian government, for which he was arrested; because of this arrest, Inamdar decided to mentor Narendra Modi.
25.
In 1978, Narendra Modi received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the School of Open Learning at the Delhi University.
26.
Narendra Modi was appointed general secretary of the "Gujarat Lok Sangharsh Samiti", an RSS committee coordinating opposition to the Emergency in Gujarat.
27.
Narendra Modi was forced to go underground in Gujarat and frequently travelled in disguise to avoid arrest, once dressing as a monk and once as a Sikh.
28.
Narendra Modi became involved in the printing of pamphlets opposing the government, sending them to Delhi and organising demonstrations.
29.
Narendra Modi was involved with creating a network of safe houses for individuals who were wanted by the government, and in raising funds for political refugees and activists.
30.
Narendra Modi became an RSS sambhag pracharak in 1978, overseeing activities in Surat and Vadodara, and in 1979, he went to work for the RSS in Delhi, where he researched and wrote the RSS's history of the Emergency.
31.
In 1987, Narendra Modi helped organise the BJP's campaign in the Ahmedabad municipal election, which the party won comfortably; according to biographers, Narendra Modi's planning was responsible for the win.
32.
Narendra Modi was elected organising secretary of the BJP's Gujarat unit later in 1987.
33.
Narendra Modi took a brief break from politics in 1992 to establish a school in Ahmedabad, and due to friction with Shankersinh Vaghela, a BJP MP from Gujarat.
34.
Narendra Modi returned to electoral politics in 1994, partly at the insistence of Advani; as party secretary, Narendra Modi's electoral strategy was considered central to the BJP victory in the 1995 state assembly election.
35.
Narendra Modi, who was on the selection committee for the 1998 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, favoured supporters of BJP leader Keshubhai Patel over those supporting Vaghela to end factional division in the party.
36.
Narendra Modi's strategy was credited as central to the BJP winning an overall majority in the 1998 election, and Modi was promoted to BJP general secretary in May of that year.
37.
The BJP national leadership sought a new candidate for the chief ministership, and Narendra Modi, who had expressed misgivings about Patel's administration, was chosen as a replacement.
38.
Narendra Modi declined an offer to become Patel's deputy chief minister, telling Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee he was "going to be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all".
39.
On 3 October 2001, Narendra Modi replaced Patel as Chief Minister of Gujarat with the responsibility of preparing the BJP for the upcoming December 2002 election.
40.
On 7 October, Narendra Modi was sworn in and he entered the Gujarat state legislature on 24 February 2002 after winning a by-election in Rajkot II constituency, defeating Ashwin Mehta of the INC.
41.
The Narendra Modi government imposed a curfew in 26 major cities, issued shoot-at-sight orders and called for the army to patrol the streets; these measures failed to prevent the violence from escalating.
42.
Later in 2002, Narendra Modi said the way in which he had handled the media was his only regret regarding the episode.
43.
Contrary to the SIT's position, Ramachandran said Narendra Modi could be prosecuted based on the available evidence.
44.
Narendra Modi submitted his resignation at the April 2002 BJP national executive meeting in Goa but it was not accepted.
45.
Narendra Modi made significant use of anti-Muslim rhetoric during his campaign, and the BJP profited from religious polarisation among voters.
46.
Narendra Modi won Maninagar constituency, defeating Congress candidate Yatin Oza.
47.
On 22 December 2002, Narendra Modi was sworn in for a second term.
48.
Narendra Modi curtailed the influence of Sangh Parivar organisations such as Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and Vishva Hindu Parishad.
49.
Narendra Modi wrote a foreword to a 2014 textbook by Dinanath Batra, which made the unscientific claim that ancient India possessed technologies including test-tube babies.
50.
Narendra Modi criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "for his reluctance to revive anti-terror legislation" such as the 2002 Prevention of Terrorism Act.
51.
In 2007, Narendra Modi wrote Karmayog, a 101-page booklet discussing manual scavenging.
52.
In July 2007, Narendra Modi completed 2,063 consecutive days as chief minister of Gujarat, making him the longest-serving holder of that post.
53.
Narendra Modi attended only Hindu religious ceremonies and had prominent associations with Hindu religious leaders.
54.
Narendra Modi won the constituency of Maninagar, defeating Shweta Bhatt of the INC.
55.
Narendra Modi established financial and technology parks in the state and during the 2007 Vibrant Gujarat summit, real-estate investment deals worth 6.6 trillion were signed.
56.
The governments led by Patel and Narendra Modi supported NGOs and communities in the creation of groundwater-conservation projects.
57.
In 2008, Narendra Modi offered land in Gujarat to Tata Motors to set up a plant manufacturing the Nano car after popular agitation had forced the company to move out of West Bengal.
58.
The Narendra Modi government finished the process of taking electricity to every village in Gujarat its predecessor had almost completed.
59.
Narendra Modi significantly changed the state's system of power distribution, greatly impacting farmers.
60.
Gujarat had a high rate of economic growth in the 1990s, before Narendra Modi took office; some scholars have stated growth did not much accelerate during his tenure.
61.
Under Narendra Modi, Gujarat topped the World Bank's "ease of doing business" rankings among Indian states for two consecutive years.
62.
In September 2013, Narendra Modi was named the BJP's candidate for prime minister ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
63.
Narendra Modi played a dominant role in the BJP's 2009 general election campaign.
64.
Several people who voted for the BJP stated they would have voted for another party if Narendra Modi had not been the prime-ministerial candidate.
65.
Narendra Modi projected himself as a person who could bring about "development" without focusing on specific policies.
66.
Narendra Modi's message found support among young and middle-class people.
67.
The BJP under Narendra Modi was able to downplay concerns about the protection of religious minorities and Narendra Modi's commitment to secularism, areas in which he had previously received criticism.
68.
Narendra Modi's tweet announcing his victory was described as being emblematic of the political realignment away from a secular, socialist state towards capitalism and Hindu cultural nationalism.
69.
Narendra Modi was a candidate for the Lok Sabha constituencies Varanasi and Vadodara.
70.
Narendra Modi won in both constituencies, defeating Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal in Varanasi by 371,784 votes and Madhusudan Mistry of the Congress in Vadodara by 570,128 votes.
71.
India's president appointed Narendra Modi, who was unanimously elected leader of the BJP, Prime Minister of India.
72.
On 13 October 2018, Narendra Modi was named the BJP candidate for prime minister in the 2019 general election.
73.
Narendra Modi launched the party's Main Bhi Chowkidar campaign ahead of the general election, against the INC's campaign slogan Chowkidar Chor Hai.
74.
Narendra Modi's campaign focused on defence and national security, especially after the Pulwama attack and the retaliatory Balakot airstrike, which was counted as an achievement of his administration.
75.
Narendra Modi contested the Lok Sabha election as a candidate for Varanasi; he won the seat by a margin of 479,505 votes, defeating Shalini Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, who stood as a candidate for the SP-BSP alliance.
76.
Narendra Modi was unanimously appointed prime minister for a second time by the National Democratic Alliance after the alliance won the election for the second time with 353 seats in the Lok Sabha; the BJP alone won 303 seats.
77.
In November 2023, Narendra Modi was named the BJP candidate for prime minister in the 2024 general election.
78.
Narendra Modi launched the party's "Narendra Modi Ki Guarantee" campaign ahead of the general election, against the INC's guarantees campaigns, that led to the party's enormous victories in the assembly elections of Karnataka and Telangana.
79.
Narendra Modi contested the Lok Sabha election as a candidate for Varanasi for the third consecutive time; he won the seat by a margin of 152,513 votes, defeating Ajay Rai of the INC, who contested as a candidate for the SP-INC alliance.
80.
Narendra Modi thanked the voters for reposing faith in his government for the 3rd consecutive time.
81.
Narendra Modi's administration enacted a bill to increase its control over the appointment of judges and reducing that of the judiciary.
82.
Narendra Modi repealed 1,200 obsolete laws in first three years as prime minister; 1,301 such laws had been repealed by previous governments in the previous 64 years.
83.
Narendra Modi launched the Digital India programme with the goal of ensuring government services are available electronically, build infrastructure to provide high-speed Internet access to rural areas, boost manufacturing of electronic goods in the country, and promote digital literacy.
84.
In 2016, Narendra Modi's administration launched the Ujjwala scheme to provide free liquefied petroleum gas connections to rural households.
85.
In 2023, the Narendra Modi administration issued a notification constituting a high-level committee on One Nation, One Election, a proposal aimed to synchronise all elections in the country either on a single day or within a specific time frame.
86.
Narendra Modi has been criticised for his lack of reaction towards the violence.
87.
The RSS provided organisational support to the BJP's electoral campaigns while the Narendra Modi administration appointed RSS-affiliated individuals to prominent government positions.
88.
The Narendra Modi administration made numerous changes in government-approved history textbooks that de-emphasised the role of Jawaharlal Nehru and glorified that of Narendra Modi while portraying Indian society as harmonious, and without conflict and inequity.
89.
In 2019, the Narendra Modi administration passed a citizenship law that provides a route to Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians, but does not grant eligibility to Muslims.
90.
On 5 August 2020, Narendra Modi visited Ayodhya after the Supreme Court in 2019 ordered contested land in Ayodhya to be handed to a trust to build a Hindu temple and ordered the government to give alternative 5 acres of land to the Sunni Waqf Board for the purpose of building a mosque.
91.
Narendra Modi became the first PM to visit temples at Ram Janmabhoomi and Hanuman Garhi.
92.
Narendra Modi said he made no mention of Muslim or Hindu in his campaign speech.
93.
However, factcheckers have refuted this claim of Narendra Modi and found numerous instances across his election campaign where he communally targeted the Muslims.
94.
Narendra Modi liberalised India's foreign direct investment policies, allowing more foreign investment in several industries, including defence and railways.
95.
In September 2014, Narendra Modi introduced the Make in India initiative to encourage foreign companies to manufacture products in India with the goal of turning the country into a global manufacturing hub.
96.
Narendra Modi's administration passed a land-reform bill that allowed it to acquire private agricultural land without conducting a social impact assessment, and without the consent of the farmers who owned it.
97.
Narendra Modi's government passed the Goods and Services Tax, the biggest tax reform in the country since independence, subsuming around 17 taxes and became effective on 1 July 2017.
98.
Narendra Modi's administration has observed a decline in GDP growth and increasing joblessness compared to the previous administration under Manmohan Singh.
99.
In January 2015, the Narendra Modi government launched its New Health Policy, which did not increase the government's spending on healthcare but emphasised the role of private healthcare organisations.
100.
Narendra Modi emphasised his government's efforts at sanitation as a means of ensuring good health.
101.
On 2 October 2014, Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission campaign.
102.
In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Narendra Modi administration invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and Disaster Management Act, 2005.
103.
The Narendra Modi administration tried to attract foreign investment in the Indian economy from several sources, especially East Asia, with the use of slogans such as "Make in India" and "Digital India".
104.
The Narendra Modi government enjoyed a positive relationship with the US during the presidencies of Barack Obama and his successor Donald Trump.
105.
Narendra Modi made several visits to the US; this was described as an unexpected development because of the US's earlier denial of a US travel visa to Narendra Modi over his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
106.
Narendra Modi's administration brought renewed attention to India's "Look East Policy", which was instituted in 1991.
107.
Narendra Modi pledged aid of $900 million to Afghanistan, which he visited twice and was honoured with Afghanistan's highest civilian honour in 2016.
108.
In September 2022, Narendra Modi appeared to have developed a strong personal relationship with Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
109.
Narendra Modi's government faced scrutiny in the lead-up to the G20 meeting as multiple news sources reported that Indian authorities demolished slum neighbourhoods in New Delhi, displacing marginalised residents.
110.
Under Narendra Modi, India launched military modernisation initiative aimed at strengthening defence preparedness and streamlining defence acquisition.
111.
Narendra Modi launched new policies under the "Aatmanirbhar Bharat" campaign, promoting indigenous defence manufacturing with policies to procure key weapon systems domestically.
112.
Narendra Modi promised to be "tough on Pakistan" during his election campaign and repeatedly called Pakistan an exporter of terrorism.
113.
On 29 September 2016, the Narendra Modi administration said Indian Army had conducted a surgical strike on terror launch pads in Azad Kashmir; the Indian media said up to 50 terrorists and Pakistani soldiers had been killed in the strike.
114.
Eight months after the incident, the Narendra Modi administration admitted that six Indian military personnel had been killed by friendly fire.
115.
Narendra Modi has been criticised for maintaining silence over ceding about 2,000 sq km land to China since June 2020.
116.
In December 2021, Narendra Modi signed an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to extend military technical cooperation.
117.
The Narendra Modi government bought the S-400 missile system, an anti-missile striking system, strengthening the relationship between the two nations.
118.
Narendra Modi lifted a moratorium on new industrial activity in India's most-polluted areas.
119.
In 2015, Narendra Modi proposed the International Solar Alliance initiative to encourage investment in solar energy.
120.
At the COP26 conference, Narendra Modi announced India would target carbon neutrality by 2070 and expand its renewable energy capacity.
121.
The Narendra Modi government has used state power to intimidate and stifle critics in the media and academia, undermining freedom of expression and alternative sources of information.
122.
Narendra Modi's administration has been criticised for using a democratic mandate to undermine democratic processes, including focusing on Hindu-nationalist priorities rather than economic development.
123.
Narendra Modi has received consistently high approval ratings during his premiership.
124.
Narendra Modi is a vegetarian and teetotaller, who has a frugal lifestyle, and is a workaholic and has been described as an introvert.
125.
Narendra Modi has been called a fashion icon for his signature crisply ironed, half-sleeved kurta, and for a suit with his name repeatedly embroidered in the pinstripes, which he wore during a state visit by US President Barack Obama, which drew public and media attention, and criticism.
126.
Narendra Modi has relied upon his reputation as a politician able to bring about economic growth and development.
127.
In early 2017, a survey by Pew Research Center showed Narendra Modi to be the most popular figure in Indian politics.
128.
Narendra Modi appeared in an episode of Discovery Channel's show Man vs Wild with the host Bear Grylls in July 2019, becoming the second world leader after Barack Obama to appear in the reality show.
129.
In March 2012 and June 2014, Narendra Modi appeared on the cover of the Asian edition of Time Magazine, becoming one of the few Indian politicians to have done so.
130.
In June 2015, Narendra Modi was featured on the cover of Time Magazine.
131.
In 2015, Narendra Modi was ranked the 13th Most Influential Person in the World by Bloomberg Markets Magazine.
132.
Narendra Modi was ranked fifth on Fortune Magazines first annual list of the "World's Greatest Leaders" in 2015.
133.
In 2016, a wax statue of Narendra Modi was unveiled at Madame Tussauds wax museum in London.
134.
In 2015, Narendra Modi was named one of Times "30 Most Influential People on the Internet" because he was the second-most-followed politician on Twitter and Facebook.
135.
In October 2018, Narendra Modi received United Nations' highest environmental award, the Champions of the Earth, for policy leadership by "pioneering work in championing" the International Solar Alliance and "new areas of levels of cooperation on environmental action".
136.
In 2020, Narendra Modi was among eight world leaders who were awarded the parody Ig Nobel Prize in Medical Education "for using the COVID-19 viral pandemic to teach the world that politicians can have a more immediate effect on life and death than scientists and doctors can".
137.
In July 2024, during a visit to Russia, Narendra Modi was awarded the Order of St Andrew, Russia's highest civilian award, for his effort in the development of the bilateral ties between India and Russia.
138.
Later in November 2024, during a diplomatic visit to Nigeria, Narendra Modi was conferred the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger by the Nigerian President.
139.
In December 2024, Narendra Modi was conferred the Order of Mubarak the Great, the highest national honour of Kuwait.
140.
Narendra Modi was named a Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key, the highest honour conferred by Mauritius, in March 2025.
141.
In 2008, Narendra Modi published a Gujarati book titled Jyotipunj, which contains profiles of RSS leaders.
142.
Golwalkar, under whose leadership the RSS expanded and whom Narendra Modi refers to as Pujniya Shri Guruji.
143.
Narendra Modi has written eight other books, mostly containing short stories for children.