Prime Minister of India

Timeline

TIMELINE OF CRITICAL EVENTS LEADING TO HIS POWER

1950

Date of Birth

17th of September 1950

He was born on the 17th of September 1950; three years after India had gained its Independence. This makes him the first Prime Minister to be born in independent India. Mr. Modi is the third child born to Damodardas Modi and Hiraba Modi.

1958

Modi Joins RSS AT AGE 8

25th of March 1958

The RSS was founded by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar as part of the movement against British rule and as a response to rioting between Hindus and Muslims. Hedgewar formed the RSS as a disciplined cadre consisting mostly of upper-caste Brahmins who were dedicated to independence and the protection of Hindu political, cultural, and religious interests. The RSS assigned him to the BJP in 1985 and he held several positions within the party hierarchy including general secretary in 1995, and in 2001, rising to the rank of he was the chief minister (head gov.) of Gujarat (2001-2014)

1978

Modi became an RSS sambhag pracharak (regional organiser)

30th of July 1978

Overseeing RSS activities in the areas of Surat and Vadodara, and in 1979 he went to work for the RSS in Delhi, where he was put to work researching and writing the RSS's version of the history of the Emergency. He returned to Gujarat a short while later, and was assigned by the RSS to the BJP in 1985.

1985

Narendra Modi was assigned by the RSS to the BJP in 1985

14th of April 1985

In 1985 Modi helped organise the BJP's campaign in the Ahmedabad municipal election, which the BJP won comfortably, Modi's planning has been described as the reason for that result by biographers. After L. K. Advani became president of the BJP in 1986, the RSS decided to place its members in important positions within the BJP; Modi's work during the Ahmedabad election led to his selection for this role, and Modi was elected organising secretary of the BJP's Gujarat unit later in 1987.

1990

Modi was named a member of the BJP's National Election Committee in 1990

28th of October 1990

Modi rose within the party and was named a member of the BJP's National Election Committee in 1990, helping organise L. K. Advani's 1990 Ram Rath Yatra in 1990 and Murli Manohar Joshi's 1991–92 Ekta Yatra (Journey for Unity). However, he took a brief break from politics in 1992, instead establishing a school in Ahmedabad; friction with Shankersinh Vaghela, a BJP MP from Gujarat at the time, also played a part in this decision.[81] Modi returned to electoral politics in 1994, partly at the insistence of Advani, and as party secretary, Modi's electoral strategy was considered central to the BJP victory in the 1995 state assembly elections.

1998

Modi was promoted to BJP general secretary (organisation) in May of that year.

4th of May 1998

Modi, on the selection committee for the 1998 Assembly elections in Gujarat, favoured supporters of BJP leader Keshubhai Patel over those supporting Vaghela to end factional division in the party. His strategy was credited as key to the BJP winning an overall majority in the 1998 elections, and Modi was promoted to BJP general secretary (organisation) in May of that year.

2001

Modi was sworn in as Chief Minister on 7 October 2001

7th of October 2001

In 2001, Keshubhai Patel's health was failing and the BJP lost a few state assembly seats in by-elections. Allegations of abuse of power, corruption and poor administration were made, and Patel's standing had been damaged by his administration's handling of the earthquake in Bhuj in 2001. The BJP national leadership sought a new candidate for the chief ministership, and Modi, who had expressed misgivings about Patel's administration, was chosen as a replacement. Although BJP leader L. K. Advani did not want to ostracise Patel and was concerned about Modi's lack of experience in government, Modi declined an offer to be Patel's deputy chief minister, telling Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee that he was "going to be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all". On 3 October 2001 he replaced Patel as Chief Minister of Gujarat, with the responsibility of preparing the BJP for the December 2002 elections. Modi was sworn in as Chief Minister on 7 October 2001

2002

Modi entered his first ever electoral in february 2002 that won him a seat in The Gujrat State Assembly.

24 February 2002

Narendra Modi entered the Gujarat state legislature on 24 February 2002 by winning a by-election to the Rajkot – II constituency, defeating Ashwin Mehta of the INC by 14,728 votes

2002

2002 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election and Modi second term

22 December 2002

He won the Maninagar constituency, receiving 113,589 of 154,981 votes and defeating INC candidate Yatin Oza by 75,333 votes. On 22 December 2002, Bhandari swore Modi in for a second term. Modi framed the criticism of his government for human rights violations as an attack upon Gujarati pride, a strategy which led to the BJP winning two-thirds of the seats in the state assembly.

2008

Development projects

23th of December 2008

The governments led by Patel and Modi supported NGOs and communities in the creation of groundwater-conservation projects. By December 2008, 500,000 structures had been built, of which 113,738 were check dams, which helped recharge the aquifers beneath them. Sixty of the 112 tehsils which had depleted the water table in 2004 had regained their normal groundwater levels by 2010. As a result, the state's production of genetically modified cotton increased to become the largest in India. The boom in cotton production and its semi-arid land use led to Gujarat's agricultural sector growing at an average rate of 9.6 percent from 2001 to 2007

2012

2012 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election

13 December 2012

In the 2012 Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections, Modi won the constituency of Maninagar by 86,373 votes over Shweta Bhatt, the INC candidate and wife of Sanjiv Bhatt. The BJP won 115 of the 182 seats, continuing its majority during his tenure and allowing the party to form the government (as it had in Gujarat since 1995). After his election as prime minister, Modi resigned as the chief minister and as an MLA from Maninagar on 21 May 2014. Anandiben Patel succeeded him as the chief minister.

2013

Modi was named the BJP's candidate for prime minister ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha election

17th of September 2013

Several BJP leaders expressed opposition to Modi's candidature, including BJP founding member L. K. Advani, who cited concern with leaders who were "concerned with their personal agendas". Modi played a dominant role in the BJP's election campaign. Several people who voted for the BJP stated that if Modi had not been the prime-ministerial candidate, they would have voted for another party. The focus on Modi as an individual was unusual for a BJP election campaign. The election was described as a referendum on Narendra Modi.

2014

Bharatiya Janata Party campaign for the 2014 Indian general election and Modi becomes Prime Minister of India with majority rule party in Lok Sabha

26 May 2014.

The 15th Lok Sabha was due to complete its constitutional term on 31 May 2014. Hence the general election was declared by the Election Commission for the constitution of 16th Lok Sabha in India. The election were held in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014. Following its consecutive defeat in the 2004 and 2009 general elections, BJP had been the principal opposition party in parliament and claimed to secure largest number of parliamentary seats under the leadership of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi who had been gaining ground for a national role after his continued term of 14 years as Gujarat Chief Minister. BJP won an absolute majority in the 2014 elections with 282 seats making it the first time ever in the 67-year history of independent India that a non-Congress party achieved a simple majority on its own

2019

2019 Indian general election and Modi is re-elected as Prime Minister

30 May 2019

On 13 October 2018, Modi was renamed as the BJP candidate for prime minister for the 2019 general election. The chief campaigner for the party was BJP's president Amit Shah. Modi contested the Lok Sabha elections as a candidate from Varanasi. He won the seat by defeating Shalini Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, who fought on SP-BSP alliance by a margin of 479,505 votes. Modi was unanimously appointed the prime minister for a second time by the National Democratic Alliance, after the alliance won the election for the second time by securing 353 seats in the Lok Sabha with the BJP alone won 303 seats.