Since Modi's taking office as Prime Minister, his administration has focused on reforming and modernising India's infrastructure and government,[4] reducing bureaucracy, encouraging increased foreign direct investment,[5] improving national standards of health and sanitation and improving foreign relations.[6][7][8] Earlier, as Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi's economic policies (credited with encouraging economic growth in Gujarat) have been praised,[9] although his administration has been criticised for failing to significantly improve the human development in the state and for failing to prevent the 2002 Gujarat riots.[10][11][12] A Hindu nationalist and member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Modi remains a controversial figure domestically and internationally.At age eight, Modi discovered the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and began attending its local shakhas (training sessions). There, Modi met Lakshmanrao Inamdar, popularly known as Vakil Saheb, who inducted him as an RSS balswayamsevak (junior cadet) and became his political mentor.[35] While Modi was training with the RSS, he also met Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders who were founding members of the BJP's Gujarat unit in 1980.Modi spent the ensuing two years travelling across Northern and North-eastern India, though few details of where he went have emerged.[42] In interviews, Modi has described visiting Hindu ashrams founded by Swami Vivekananda: the Belur Math near Kolkata, followed by the Advaita Ashrama in Almora and the Ramakrishna mission in Rajkot. Modi remained only a short time at each, since he lacked the required college education.
Modi's involvement in the 2002 events has continued to be debated. Several scholars have described them as a pogrom, while others have called them state terrorism.[96][97][98] Summarising academic views on the subject, Martha Nussbaum said: "There is by now a broad consensus that the Gujarat violence was a form of ethnic cleansing, that in many ways it was premeditated, and that it was carried out with the complicity of the state government and officers of the law."[99] Distinguished Indian lawyer Ram Jethmalani applauded Modi's efforts during 2002 riots.[100] In 2012 Maya Kodnani, a minister in Modi's government from 2007 to 2009, was convicted of participation in the Naroda Patiya massacre during the 2002 riots.[101][102] Kodnani was the first woman and the first MLA to be convicted in a Godhra-riots case.[103] Although Modi's government had announced that it would seek the death penalty for Kodnani on appeal, in 2013 it retreated from that stance.After accusations of anti-Muslim rhetoric during the campaign, during Modi's second term his emphasis shifted from Hindutva to Gujarat's economic development.[71][114] He curtailed the influence of Sangh Parivar organisations such as the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP),[120] entrenched in the state after the decline of Ahmedabad's textile industry,[71] and dropped Gordhan Zadafia (an ally of former Sangh co-worker and VHP state chief Praveen Togadia) from his cabinet. When the BKS staged a farmers' demonstration Modi ordered their eviction from state-provided houses, and his decision to demolish 200 illegal temples in Gandhinagar deepened the rift with the VHP.[120][121] Sangh organisations were no longer consulted or informed in advance about Modi's administrative decisions.His 2002–07 changes have led to Gujarat's description as an attractive investment destination. According to Aditi Phadnis, "There was sufficient anecdotal evidence pointing to the fact that corruption had gone down significantly in the state ... if there was to be any corruption, Modi had to know about it".[71] He established financial and technology parks in Gujarat and during the 2007 Vibrant Gujarat summit, real-estate investment deals worth 6.6 trillion were signed in the state.
Modi's involvement in the 2002 events has continued to be debated. Several scholars have described them as a pogrom, while others have called them state terrorism.[96][97][98] Summarising academic views on the subject, Martha Nussbaum said: "There is by now a broad consensus that the Gujarat violence was a form of ethnic cleansing, that in many ways it was premeditated, and that it was carried out with the complicity of the state government and officers of the law."[99] Distinguished Indian lawyer Ram Jethmalani applauded Modi's efforts during 2002 riots.[100] In 2012 Maya Kodnani, a minister in Modi's government from 2007 to 2009, was convicted of participation in the Naroda Patiya massacre during the 2002 riots.[101][102] Kodnani was the first woman and the first MLA to be convicted in a Godhra-riots case.[103] Although Modi's government had announced that it would seek the death penalty for Kodnani on appeal, in 2013 it retreated from that stance.After accusations of anti-Muslim rhetoric during the campaign, during Modi's second term his emphasis shifted from Hindutva to Gujarat's economic development.[71][114] He curtailed the influence of Sangh Parivar organisations such as the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP),[120] entrenched in the state after the decline of Ahmedabad's textile industry,[71] and dropped Gordhan Zadafia (an ally of former Sangh co-worker and VHP state chief Praveen Togadia) from his cabinet. When the BKS staged a farmers' demonstration Modi ordered their eviction from state-provided houses, and his decision to demolish 200 illegal temples in Gandhinagar deepened the rift with the VHP.[120][121] Sangh organisations were no longer consulted or informed in advance about Modi's administrative decisions.His 2002–07 changes have led to Gujarat's description as an attractive investment destination. According to Aditi Phadnis, "There was sufficient anecdotal evidence pointing to the fact that corruption had gone down significantly in the state ... if there was to be any corruption, Modi had to know about it".[71] He established financial and technology parks in Gujarat and during the 2007 Vibrant Gujarat summit, real-estate investment deals worth 6.6 trillion were signed in the state.
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