Narendra Modi: From Child Marriage to Prime Minister

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 67th birthday falls on September 17. While wishing the Indian Premier the very best and wishing many more productive years to come; it is as good a time as any to reflect on his meteoric rise to power and the changing face of India under his leadership.   

Starting life as the son of a poor tea seller in Gujarat, Mr Modi retains strong ties to the politics of the Hindu nationalist right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to which he was introduced when just eight-years-old.   

A victim of a child marriage which he rejected as a teenager, the young Modi wandered the Himalayas as a Sannyasa, imbibing ways of Hindu ascetics before returning to Gujarat and renewing his ties to the RSS. By 1971 he had become a full-time worker in that organization and during the period of emergency rule between 1975-1977 was forced to go into hiding because of his political beliefs.   
Assigned to the BJP in 1985, Modi quickly rose to become its general secretary in 2001. A tried and tested politician, he became Chief Minister of Gujerat and at the 2014 general election led his party to a landslide victory.  

A controversial figure because he was Chief Minister during the 2002 anti-Muslim riots and not particularly favourable toward minority sentiments, Modi was looked on with uncertainty and trepidation by minorities in India and among some SAARC countries.   

The Sri Lanka government hoped for better relations with India under his watch as Prime Minister, while Pakistan was concerned with the strong nationalist background of the incoming premier and whether his BJP regime would exacerbate already existing tensions between the two countries.   

But Mr. Modi’s invitation to all SAARC leaders including the Pakistani PM to attend his swearing-in ceremony, was seen as a gesture to improve relations within SAARC. His master stroke visit to Pakistan in December 2016 showed a keenness to find a solution to the Indo-Pakistan stand-off.  
Sadly the possibility of better relations between the South Asian countries crumbled when the Kashmir issue flared out of control and both countries accusing each other for the worsening situation. Ultimately Indian troops entered Pakistani territory to neutralize cross-border attackers.  

Today relations between India and Pakistan are at their lowest level and SAARC exists merely in name with the latest SAARC meeting scheduled to be held in Pakistan being called off.  

Internationally, India has today become the darling of the western nations led by the US. By a strange twist of fate, Britain, the US and the EU, which accused Mr. Modi of human rights violations and refused to issue a visa to the then Chief Minister Modi are now falling over each other to welcome him to their countries.   

Back at home Mr. Modi’s successes have been muted. He has as yet, not been able to deliver on his promise of job creation. His government has fallen short of his election manifesto promise to create ten million new jobs.  

The Hindustan Times reports that the unemployment rate in 2015-16 was 5% of the labour force, up from 4.9% in 2013-14, the year before the BJP assumed power. It says the number of beneficiaries of one of the government’s assistance programmes -- the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), which aimed at generating employment in rural and urban areas by starting new micro enterprises and small projects -- has fallen 24.4% from 428,000 in 2012-13 to 323,362 in 2015-16.  

Attacks by Hindu mobs on Muslim and Christian communities in particular Indian states, has somewhat tarnished Mr. Modi’s initial yesrs as prime minister.  

Statistics reveal that Muslims were the target of 51% of violence centred on bovine issues from 2010 to 2017 with some 28 Indians killed in 63 incidents, according to an ‘India Spend’ content analysis of the English media.  

As many of 97% of these attacks were reported after Prime Minister Modi’s government came to power in May 2014.  

Similarly the Catholic Secular Federation (CSF), as reported in the Hindustan Times, has documented 365 attacks against Christians in 2015 making it the highest number of attacks on Indian Christians since independence.   

While wishing Mr. Modi all the best for his birthday, we hope that as he was able to negotiate a settlement at Doklam over the recent Indo-Chinese stand-off, he will be able to help end the Indo-Pakistan rift which is holding back the development of SAARC.