The Modi Raj 1: The chaiwallah's son

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The Economist
The economist.

Jitendra Chauhan
I can say he is very shokin Sabnabara Bharat punctual Putana. Kapadamate Jitendra Chauhan is a tailor in Gujarat, a state in the west of India. I've come to one of his smart multi story shops in the city of Ahmedabad to talk about his most famous. Client, Modi Kurta Sur patient Karen theres. A whole section devoted to the Modi Kurta Jawaharlal Nehru Indias first prime minister popularised the short collared Nehru jacket, a symbol of elegance and progressive politics.

The Economist
The countrys current leader now also has an item of clothing named after him. Its a take on a traditional tunic but with short sleeves.

Chauhan tells me the prime minister is very particular about the tiniest of details. He notices if buttonholes are hand sewn.

Narendra Modi started getting his clothes made at Chauhans shop more than 30 years ago. Back then, Chahan had just one small store and Modi needed everyday cotton outfits. Things have changed since then.

The most recent piece Modi ordered was for a big public appearance, the kind of spectacle the prime minister loves.

It was a bright blue waistcoat and matching scarf with an orange border. Chauhan says Modi was specific about the design. He picked the shade of orange himself.

Across Ahmedabad, on the banks of the Sabarmati river stands a newly built crooked ground. The Narendra Modi stadium is the worlds largest and last November 130,000 fans filled it for the biggest night in indian sport, the cricket World cup final on home turf, specifically Modi's home turf. He grew up in Gujarat and he was centre stage that night wearing the blue and orange outfit. It matched the indian players kit. As ever, Modi had found the perfect look to fit the moment.

Narendra Modis knack for switching geysers to suit his audience has been a huge asset as he pitched himself to a diverse country of 1.4 billion people.

During the campaign for this years election, Modi styled himself as an economic modernizer. In an interview with the news agency, Modi talked up his goal of making India a developed country by 2047, 100 years after independence from Britain. He talked about artificial intelligence and the digital revolution. In the ten years Modi's been in power, India's economy has overtaken Britain's to become the fifth largest in the world. It will probably be the third largest within the next three years.

Modi also tried to reassure his critics.

When I say that I have big plans, no one should be scared.

But since Modi took power in 2014, some people have been scared because theres a second, darker side to Modi, too. For most of his political career, Modi has cultivated his image as a strident hindu nationalist. As prime minister, his hindu first agenda has threatened Indias minorities, its 200 million Muslims in particular. And his authoritarian, illiberal brand of leadership put Indias democracy at risk.

On the campaign trail this year, when the mood looked like it could be turning against him at a rally in Rajasthan, a state in the north of India, Modi turned to explicit divisive rhetoric and islamophobia.

The prime minister said that the opposition Congress party promised Muslims first right over the countrys resources. He said Congress would distribute Indias wealth to those with more children. He asked the crowd, do you think your hard earned money should be given to infiltrators?

A social media storm followed. Opposition politicians accused him of hate speech.

There have always been two Narendra Modis, the economic reformer and the hindu nationalist. As prime minister, he has pursued both goals doggedly, and this two part vision for India won Modi two landslide elections in 2014 and 2019. He became one of the most popular elected politicians on the planet while positioning India as a powerful independent player in a new world order. In this year's election, Modi became the first person to win three terms in a row since Nehru, the man who led India through independence.

But despite reaching this milestone, Modi faced a dramatic upset. His party failed to win an outright majority in parliament and was forced to rely on coalition partners to stay in power. For the master politician who predicted that his party would win a historic supermajority, it was a huge shock.

And for a leader who has grown used to a centralized, strongman style, it was a humbling moment. Modi now faces a test. He will have to decide where he's willing to compromise and where he's not. Those choices will define his legacy and the future path for the world's biggest democracy. So it's time to answer the question that's been on my mind since I first started reporting on India over a decade ago.

When you look past the carefully crafted image, the pageantry and the showmanship, who is the real Narendra Modi?

I'm Ivan Pike. Chul Koti from the economist. This is the Modi Raj. Episode one the chaiwala sun.

IDA Ireland
In 600 meters, turn right.

The Economist
Welcome to Varnagar. Lots of traffic, lots of tuk tuks. Some handsome cows.

Getting to know Narendra Modi means going back to the very beginning. Varnagar. It's a small town in central Gujarat. When Narendra Damurdar Das Modi was born in 1953, years after independence he was the third of six siblings and his family lived in a single story home with no electricity.

As with anywhere in India, the thing you notice about Vadnagar is the noise, people shouting and cars honking at cows that block their way. There are women going about their business in the most fantastically colored clothes. Groups of young men just loiter.

People say Vadnagar has developed a lot since Modi's time. But even today the town has a population of only 30,000 people. That makes it puny in indian terms.

I drove through the old town, a warren of narrow alleys to reach the railway station.

So we're here at Vadnagar station. It looks very new. There's a nice blue train on the platform. But it's quite full actually. There's people hanging out of everything except for the chair car.

As far as I can see, this station is where Modi's story really starts.

His father sold tea here and Modi says he helped out as a child.

The tea stall was being renovated when I visited. There was a life size cutout of Modi nearby. Part of an ad campaign for one of the prime minister's big welfare programs. Back when Modi lived here, the station had one platform. Since Modi became prime minister, its become a tourist attraction.

The national government has revamped the whole place. There are two platforms. A pristine pink frontage and Modi's name on a big plaque outside Modis. Critics say this story about Modi and the tea stall is overdone. Theres debate about what exactly his father did and whether the young Modi really helped out selling tea.

Either way, being the son of a chaiwala is a big part of Modis identity now. He wears it as a badge of honour. In a Bollywood biopic about his life the young Modi is shown leaping onto a train with a potted chai.

He rushes through the carriage, pouring cups of tea and collecting coins from his customers. The film paints young Modi as responsible, patriotic, wiser than his years. Hes always helping his parents with something or the other.

But it is cinema. I wanted to speak to locals in Watnaga, people who knew Modi all those years ago. But it was hard to find anyone who was willing to talk to me about him. Some said they were afraid of speaking out of turn and getting in trouble. That gives you a sense of how much control Modi and the Bharatiya Janata party the BJP keep over his personal story.

So I turn to the journalist Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. Hes one of only a handful of biographers who had access to Modi back when he was more open to speaking to the media. These days Modi is less open to questions from journalists. Mukhopadia I spent hours with him and got a window into the mind of the young Modi. Modi directly told me that he would take his friends outside the village on expeditions and he would lead it.

Modi wanted to be the one giving out orders. He would not want to learn anything from his classmates or his friends. Mukhopadiayi spoke to one of Modi's teachers too. He told him about Modi's early ambition. He acted quite a bit in school plays, in school functions but he always wanted the lead role.

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay
If you don't give him the lead role he will not be part of it. In the 1950s Wadnagar didnt have much for the ambitious or the adventurous. But there was one activity in town that captured the imagination of the young Modi.

The Economist
On most mornings at dawn men and boys dressed in khaki trousers, white shirts and black caps can be found in parks or hindu temple grounds. Belting out this chant.

Theyre in the RSS the Rashtriya swayam sevak san. You can think of it like a cross between the boy scouts and the salvation army. With a strong streak of hindu nationalism, the group advocates for hindu supremacy in India. It often demonises Muslims. Some of the early leaders of the RSS openly took inspiration from european fascists.

No one knows exactly how many people are in the organization. Its secretive about a lot of things but estimates suggest there are at least 5 million members, all men and boys.

Aar Balashankar
That is the RSS traditional prayer that is sung everywhere. Aar Balashankar is about the same age as Modi. He grew up in Kerala, a state in the south of India. He joined the RSS when he was 16. Modi joined when he was eight.

That is Namaste sadhg saleh madhra Pume. Hindu Pume. Can you translate the prayer? What are you saying? This translation is difficult but the basic point is that I bore before my motherland and this is a great country and I would even lay down my life, you know, I will do anything for its total uplift and its prosperity and to make it strong.

The Economist
The prayer might be tricky to translate from Sanskrit to English, but the message is clear. Its about patriotism, pride and sacrifice for the motherland. Its we, not me. Modi and Balashankar would end up crossing paths at the RSS headquarters in New Delhi when they were in their twenties. Thats why I wanted to meet Balashankar and because his experience as a youngster in the RSS would be pretty similar to Modi's.

Aar Balashankar
I had not even heard about the name of the RSS, but we are told that it is a good organization, nationalist organization. My mother, she told me, why don't you go for a training program there? It was a seven day training program. Balashankar was a generous host when we met at his home in New Delhi. I can make some coffee for you if you like.

The Economist
No, no, no, thank you. He welcomed me with plates of sweet, deep fried indian snacks and insisted I eat them as we talked about what he learned at that seven day training camp. See, the living is very simple. We have to get up early in the morning, at 04:00. In the early hours, they would pray and sing nationalist songs.

Aar Balashankar
It is about the country, its history, about heroes, all those things. Do you remember any of the songs you would sing in that? I remember many songs, but im not very good at singing. I tried to persuade him, but he was adamant he wouldnt sing. The rest of the training camp involved pontificating about patriotism and Hinduism.

The Economist
And then there was yoga and drills. Basically a lot of exercise. And those days we used to have dhyana, you know, this long stick, the sticks. This is what I really wanted to know about. So what are you doing with the big sticks?

Are you fighting each other? Is it like fighting or what are you doing? Fighting is at a later stage to begin with, you know, we are trained to handle it. So it's a long stick. It is up to your shoulder, that is the length of the stick, and first it's how to handle it.

Aar Balashankar
And only at a later stage when you have trained a little with the stick, then we have a dual fight, you know, like we have. It's this physical training that makes the RSs feel like a paramilitary group. The organisation is teaching young men to be fit, patriotic, macho protectors of the nation. Even one former head of the RSS described the organisations daily meetings as a center of hope for rapid action and undemanding help in case of emergencies. And crises that affect the people and also a powerful threat to the brutal and anti national forces.

The Economist
In the boy in the brant, a documentary maker got an inside look at the organization. The film came out in 1993.

It shows young men being inducted into the RSS. Boys are shown dressed in khaki shorts, playing games, chasing and hitting one another, chanting and punching the air.

At one point a group jostles to grab hold of one boy.

Theyre all chanting who does Kashmir belong to? To us. Its a reference to a contested territory with a majority muslim population that has been the center of India Pakistan conflict for generations. In an interview, an RSS leader explains that the organisation believes India should be run in the interests of the hindu majority.

If the Muslims oppose us or didn't give us their support, we'll get back at them. Tit for tat.

Aar Balashankar
I was quite charmed by the overall atmosphere, the people around and the exercise. It was all very new to me and I was quite excited about it. Balashankar loved the training camp. He started going to the hour long daily meeting held by his local RSS unit, the Shaka, which is the center of RSS life. And over time the youngster transformed into a disciplined, devoted RSS man.

The Economist
Modi has said he was drawn to the RSS because of the nationalistic songs and the organizations reputation for discipline and because the RSS offered him something beyond his life at home in Vadnagar. Modi believes that his entire personality is the contribution of the RSS. His discipline, his style of working, his oratory and his organization skill, his idea about the nation. All these things are shaped by the RSS.

The RSS was founded in 1925 when the British ruled India. The colonial leaders were holding national elections. And its the period in which for the first time Indians realize that in the future power is going to be distributed as one person, one vote. Vinay Sitapati is an academic and hes written books on Indias political history. The founders of the RSS believed in a specific version of history, one where a lack of unity between various sects and castes weakened the hindu community.

This weakness, in their view, had opened India up to centuries of rule by invaders, Muslims, then Christians, the mughal empire, then the British. Their version of India was of a nation defined by its majority faith. The aim of the RSS is to create a cadre of Hindus who are united, who are not divided by caste, by region or by language.

In 1947, when the British signed the Indian Independence act, they hastily drew a line between muslim majority Pakistan and hindu majority India, creating two nation states partition, as it became known, led to one of the bloodiest periods in indian history. Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims attacked one another. Hundreds of thousands died. Millions of people were forced out of their homes. RSS leaders, with their vision of a united India was seething to them.

Indias new leaders, the Indian National Congress party, had given up sacred territory. Its important to realise that historically the RSS has always shied away from direct involvement in politics. Politics, though, would catch up with the RSS. In 1948, the organization faced its first major moment of reckoning.

Nathuram Godse
At three minutes past five indian time, Mister Gandhi came out of Berla house. He was wearing his usual white loincloth and a pair of sandals. He was still smiling. A thick set man in his tortoise, I should say, and dressed in car keys was in the forefront of the crowd. He moved a step towards Mister Gandhi, took out a revolver and fired several shots at almost point blank range.

The Economist
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, died on the spot.

The assassin was Nathuram Godse, a hindu fanatic and a former member of the RSS.

In a written statement before he was hanged, Godse explained why he killed Gandhi. He labeled himpro muslim and accused him of being soft on Pakistan.

Vinay Sitapati
Now hes not assassinated by the RSS. The RSS was cleared of any accusation of it. But he was assassinated by somebody who shared the worldview of the RSS and had the same criticisms of Mahatma Gandhi, namely pandering to Pakistan that the RSS had. The RSS was banned for a year and a half. Thousands of the group's members were arrested.

The Economist
Its association with Godse made the RSS unpalatable to many Indians. The ban persuaded the RSS leadership that they needed to get involved in politics. They realized few politicians spoke out in their defense after the assassination. So they created a party. It was the forerunner of the BJP, Modi's party.

The two sides and their structures were to remain separate. The RSS was to be about ideology and the party was about politics.

By all accounts, Modi was desperate to get out of Vadnagar. When he finished school, he upped and he left. You know, there is a very standard kind of desire to leave home, not liking the controls of family. Those are the kind of things which I can, you know, visualize because I used to have similar kind of, you know, moods. Modi says he went to the Himalayas to explore his spirituality.

He was inspired by Swami Vivekananda, a hindu monk whose ideas about reviving the religion laid the foundations for the hindu nationalist movement. Modi went to an ashram and tried to become a monk himself. It was there, apparently, that a spiritual leader told Modi that he was destined for a life of public service, not devotion.

But the biographer Nilandan Mukhopadhyay thinks there could be another reason why Modi left Varnagar. He was running away from something. He definitely did not like the idea of being married to this lady.

This is something Modi kept secret for years. He is married. It was arranged when he was a child. This is unfortunately a common practice in India. He was married at 18 but spent very little time with his wife.

Never had children with her, never had much of a relationship at all.

These days Modi presents himself as a single man whose only commitment is to the country. He gets prickly whenever the marriage comes up. After his travels, aged 22, Modi joined the RSS full time. He was now a pracharak, which translates as one who publicises its a cross between a foot soldier, a missionary and a campaigner. These full time RSS workers are the pillars of the organization.

Theyre unpaid but their everyday needs like food and shelter are covered by the RSS. The life of a pracharak is one of devotion, asceticism and celibacy. Modi would not have been allowed to become a pracharak if he revealed he was married. So he kept it quiet.

Aar Balashankar
Sarva Shaktiman Sri Parmeshwar Sarva Saktima Sri Parmeshwar.

The Economist
Its likely he swore an oath to the RSS like this one captured in the documentary the boy in the branch. Its a promise to protect the purity of hindu religion, culture and progress. Modi dedicated his life to the organisation. He focused on rising through the ranks within the organisation. He did not hesitate to be extra nice or extra courteous with his seniors.

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay
With an eye that if I am courteous that ill possibly be able to rise very quickly. So he actually took personal care of some of his seniors within the RSS washing their clothes, cleaning their rooms. But things would soon change. Three years after Modi became a pracharak, the RSS faced a second reckoning.

The Economist
The president has proclaimed emergency. This is nothing to panic about. I am sure you are all conscious of the deep and widespread conspiracy which has been brewing ever since I began. Indira Gandhi, the prime minister and the leader of the Congress party had been found guilty of electoral malpractice. Instead of stepping down, she doubled down.

On June 25, 1975, she imposed a state of emergency. Civil and political rights were dissolved. Opposition leaders were locked up. The press was censored. She banned the RSS too.

Thousands of its members were arrested. The emergency is still the most brazen attack on Indias democracy post independence. It fired up young people including young RSS workers like Modi and Balashankar. Organize resistance, organize people for demonstrations, preparing the literature, distributing it among people. That was a major part of the work.

The RSS went underground. It became a force for resistance, opposing the emergency. Both Balashankar and Modi were part of it. Theres a lot of controversy around what exactly Modi was up to at that time. How involved he really was.

But when he met Balashankar just after the emergency was lifted Modi regaled his younger friend with stories of disguise and valor. Who could hide himself and how the police was never able to recognize him. He had grown his beard and changed. His dress to disguise himself. Modi ditched his gurda.

The traditional indian tunic for full on seventies western fashion.

Aar Balashankar
Bell bottom and all the kind of things like jeans and all that. He was totally under Kagan civil Asima and you know his clothes and all that. Balashankar got to know Modi well because they were teamed up for a big gathering. Testimonies from RSS members about their experience of the emergency. He was very strict about his timings.

The Economist
Modi would wake up at 04:00 a.m. pray and then do yoga. And from 08:00 till evening continuously he sits in the floor. Youll work in an organization like the RSS. This precise routine didnt set Modi apart.

What made him stand out to his peers like Balashankar was what he chose to wear. He was always well dressed. Pracharaks are supposed to dress simply. Theyre not supposed to be image conscious or outwardly ambitious. The RSS is all about organization over self.

Remember?

Jitendra Chauhan
Even then he was very particular about his clothing. The tailor Jitendra Chauhan remembers meeting Modi back when he was a pracharak. Straight. Always straight. He always had a straight body style.

I have never seen him hunching. He always had an eye for the tiniest of details. Like there should be no crease in his clothes.

In style he is very particular. He is unlike others.

The Economist
Modi would take the fabric to Chahans shop and get his outfits made just the way he liked them.

Jitendra Chauhan
The half sleeve kurta. That was his idea. He came up with that design and we made it for him.

He used to come to me even for those ordinary clothes. Even then when he was dressed quite plainly he came to us because he had an eye for our good quality finishing and detailing.

The Economist
Modi was eager to look the part. Perhaps he was trying to be seen. Balashankar certainly spotted flashes of Modi's ambition. Narendra Modi had the vision he used to tell me, see when I will go back to Gujarat, most probably I will be working for politics. And he said that one day I am going to be a prominent leader in Gujarat.

In 1987 the RSS sent Modi on a secondment. It would mark the start of his career in politics. Remember the political party the RSS had formed after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi? It had evolved to become the BJP. Modi's job was to work behind the scenes as a bridge between the RSS and the BJP.

Modi proved himself as an organiser. His specialty big yatras. A yatra is something between a rally and a pilgrimage. Indian politicians love a yatra. They walk long distances or drive in open top buses grabbing any opportunity to give a speech or interact with the public along the way large crowds often follow.

Modi began by organising the Gujarat leg of a yatra which had huge significance for the BJP. It was to end at the mosque in Ayodhya, a city in Indias north. Remember the name Ayodhya. It will come up again and its key to this whole story. Ayodhya had been a flashpoint for hindu muslim conflict for centuries.

Many Hindus believe its the birthplace of Lord Ram, one of the most revered gods in Hinduism. Since the 16th century when the mughal emperors ruled India, a mosque had stood on the site. This was a spot that was sacred to both Muslims and Hindus. The yatra was part of the BJP's push to get a hindu temple built at the site.

It drove the agitation that led to a hindu mob destroying the mosque. A couple of years later the yatra rallied massive support for the party and soon Modi landed his first national assignment. In December 1991 he was put in charge of a yatra for Muruli Manohar Joshi, the BJP president at the time. This yatra reveals a lot about Modis character and his political strategy. It was to run the length of India from the southernmost tip in Tamil Nadu to Jammu and Kashmir right in the north.

Thats 2284 miles of walking and driving. It would take 47 days. The general buzz was that there is this man called Narendra Modi and hes doing an excellent job coordinating such a difficult yatra. Nilandan Mukhapadia, Modi's biographer was covering the yatra as a journalist while you are. Travelling at a time when India did not have the kind of communications.

Now the reporters needed phone connections to send their stories back to base. Connections were hard to come by on the road and Modi spotted this the. Typewriters, their computers and most importantly fax machines. He set up makeshift offices for the media wherever the yatra stopped. The yatra was to end on January 26, Republic Day in India.

The plan was to hoist the indian tricolour in Srinagar, the main city of J and K.

After independence, the majority muslim state had been given special semi autonomous status. In the early nineties, an armed insurgency gripped J and K. Militant groups were fighting to break away from India. The Congress party was in charge of the country at the time and the BJP accused them of losing control of the state. The BJP wanted to cancel Kashmirs semi autonomous status.

The plan was for the BJP president Joshi to raise the flag in front of the gathered press pack. It would be an act of political one upmanship by the BJP and a show of dominance.

Normally the person running a yatra keeps a low profile, not movi. He used it as a platform to give rabble rousing speeches challenging any would be troublemakers.

Tensions were running high in Srinagar on January 26. Gunshots rang through the air. The yatra had already come under fire from separatist groups along its route. The security services were nervous. They didnt want BJP politicians out on the streets any longer than needed.

But Modi saw an opportunity. Joshi was poised with the tricolour in front of tv crews and press photographers. Shankar Singh Vagela was a senior leader in the BJP. He was in the photograph too big one Joshian. I was small one his main page because camera he was doing well.

Jitendra Chauhan
The camera is. Modi was looking at the camera because he knew where it was. So he is the main face in the shot. Joshi and I are tiny because we didn't know where the camera was. The press snapped the three of them with the flag.

Nobody can recognize who I am. I.

Shankar Singh Vagela
Nobody can recognize who I am or who Joshi is. Its only Modi. Vegela looks back at this time with a mix of annoyance and amusement. Thats why you can hear him and my colleague laughing. Vegela says Modi upstaged him and Joshi.

The Economist
To be fair, Joshi is squarely in the photo. But Modi does look like hes in charge. Hes this neatly bearded figure dressed in a smart woolen jacket towering over Joshi whos wrapped up against the cold in a cap in a saffron scarf. This was Modi, the political operator. The yatra cemented Modis position in the BJP and in 1995 he was key in winning the party power in Gujarat.

He climbed up and up from there.

Shankar Singh Vagela
He was seen as a stubborn man. He always wanted to do what he thought was right.

The Economist
Some of Modis contemporaries didnt like his ambition. Vagela, who was an RSS veteran too felt that Modi put himself ahead of the hindu nationalist cause. That went against everything hed learnt in the RSS. A political ambitious. He was politically ambitious.

Shankar Singh Vagela
Using RSS to enter politics. That was always his plan. He wanted to be in power and. Modi knew how to get there. Part of his political success in those early years was in making sure he got on the radar of the top brass.

Jitendra Chauhan
Ill say this about Mister Modi that he has his fundamentals very clear. He knows or he decides where he has to reach and works to achieve that end. Yashwant Sinha was part of the BJP led government in the late nineties. He served as finance minister and foreign minister. When I was finance minister Mister Modi came to me and requested me to visit Gujarat.

The Economist
Sinha took up the invitation. There was some function with regard to preservation of cows. Cows are considered sacred in Hinduism. So it was pretty typical for BJP types to attend events like this one. What's interesting is what happened afterwards.

Jitendra Chauhan
I had perhaps time at my hand before I got the flight back and he took me to the room in which he was living in Ahmedabad at that time. It was a small, very small room with a cot in the RSS headquarters. It was sparsely furnished with a bed, desk and chair. That was the style in which all RSS pracharaks as they were called, they used to live. Modi had been seconded to the BJP for several years by this point.

The Economist
But the RSS was still a big part of his identity. The two organizations shared the same core hindu nationalism. While BJP claims to be secular in its own way, the pro hindu slant was there. This is important. India is by its constitution a secular country.

But the word has different meanings in different places in India. It doesnt mean the state is separated from religion. The state is supposed to give all religions equal treatment. The BJP accused the Congress party of pandering to minority communities and disadvantaging the hindu majority. That despite the fact that Muslims faced everyday discrimination in India and remained poorer than the average Indian, the Congress party.

Jitendra Chauhan
Had a record of indulging in minority appeasement. And BJP stood against this. BJP wanted everyone to be treated equally. Under the Constitution of India, as did the RSS. The relationship between analysis and BJP was umbilical.

The Economist
The two groups were so close that as finance minister Sinha would present his policy plans to RSS leaders before they were announced. Because I was following liberal economic policies, often I was on the wrong side of RSS and I felt that it was my duty to explain to them why I was doing what I was doing, which I did by going, reaching out to them. So I continued with it for as long as I was in government, even foreign policy. How could they pressure the BJP? What was their power?

Jitendra Chauhan
That power was because many of the people in the BJP were pracharaks pracharaks. Like Modi whod proven themselves and were moving into politics.

The Economist
The foundations for Modi's political career had been laid. He got into office from there through a combination of hard work, shrewd diplomacy and sheer luck.

In the late nineties, political infighting dogged the BJP in Gujarat. The feud pitted Modi against Vigela and began to break the party. Modi, having risen through the ranks was accused of running the chief ministers office from the sidelines. The BJP leadership pulled him out of Gujarat and sent him to New Delhi. It was a dark period in Modis life.

He was away from home and alienated from sections of the party.

But he put his skills as a negotiator and organizer to use and he. Became one of the early spokespersons of the BJP for television.

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay
Lowest voter turnout Raiya dissidents cynical attitude. Gina is lowest.

The Economist
Nilandan Mukhopadhyay the journalist and biographer would watch Modi on tv. He appeared to be a person who was actually fit for television in the sense that, you know, the capacity to give the sound bite in 25 30 seconds an exact composite thought, well thought out. All the while the BJP government in Gujarat continued to self destruct. When an earthquake hit the state in 2001 it was the final straw. Clumsy management and corruption plagued relief efforts.

Voters had had enough and the national leadership of the BJP realized they needed a new chief minister to be the face of the party in Gujarat. And so they need a man, if I may use another phrase to make Gujarat great again and enter Modi, right.

Whats remarkable is that Modi had never held any elected office before. He might have been handed a poisoned chalice. He was taking on the leadership of Gujarat at a time when the BJP was in tatters in the state. Who?

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay
Narendra Damodardas Modi Ishvarna Laochu Ishvarna.

The Economist
On October 7, 2001, Modi was sworn in as chief minister of Gujarat. It was a huge job for a political newcomer. And only a few months into it, he would face calls to step down. When rioting broke out across the state.

They used petrol like it was water. And they had these large hammers. Some even had swords and sticks.

They swarmed in, they broke doors down. It felt like the mob were the rulers of Gulbarg.

Over the next seven episodes, I'll explore how Modi survived and thrived in Gujarat and how those early years in politics forged his vision for India.

It's a vision that propelled Modi to the national stage and that has made India what it is today. A booming economy and an emerging global power, but a democracy where many minority groups live in fear.

I'll speak to people who've worked closely with Modi. He has every quality to make the image of the country, you know, bigger and magnified many times on the world stage. After about two, three years, he was lot more. Independent is a wrong word, but self dependent in decision making. Those who champion his vision we are.

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay
Seeing a government which is creating a strong brand for brand India on a global landscape. If you are a smart young person willing to give 2030 years of your life to do something big, there is no place to be than India. A lot of people had tears in their eyes. You know, it was like after 500 years of humiliation, we were witnessing a history where our ram is back and. Those who reject it.

The Economist
Muslims were just scared of what this man will do, what's next? What's coming our way? In essence, we have been convicted without trial, in fact, convicted and punished without even charges being filed.

For exclusive access to all of this, youll need to be an economist subscriber to unlock the full series of the Modi Raj, just search for Economist podcasts plus to discover our latest subscription offers. If youre already an economist subscriber thank you. Your support is what makes this podcast possible. Our producers are Alyssia Burrell and Sam Colbert. Field production is by Mohit Rao.

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Janice Torres
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The Modi Raj 1: The chaiwallah's son

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1: Early Life

2: RSS Influence

3: Political Ascent

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