This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Imc (talk | contribs) at 14:05, 5 December 2004 (Modified PoV statements; removed superfluous question at end.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 14:05, 5 December 2004 by Imc (talk | contribs) (Modified PoV statements; removed superfluous question at end.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Narendra Modi (born September 17, 1950) is the chief minister of the state of Gujarat in India since October 7, 2001.
He belongs to the BJP, and became the Chief Minister of Gujarat when Keshubhai Patel resigned from office following the loss of 2 Assembly bypolls and 1 Lok Sabha seat.
Modi's tenure was marred by the Gujarat Massacre in which over 3000 people, mostly Muslims, lost their lives. Widespread evidence exists of police complicity and participation in the massacre which saw some very serious human rights violations, such as the brutal gang rapes of women and the burning alive of women and children. The violence has been fully catalogued in Siddharth Varadarajan's work, Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy. Despite the widespread carnage not a single person has been convicted for the massacre, leading the Supreme Court of India to intervene in a number of high-profile cases such as the Best Bakery incident where the accused were acquitted for lack of evidence. The massacre was sparked off by the burning of a railway train carrying Hindus returning from a trip to the "Ram Janmabhoomi" at Ayodhya. Although the BJP-led Gujarat government blamed the burning of the train on a Muslim mob, investigations into the fire by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory of Ahmedabad (Gujarat's biggest city) concluded that the train had ignited from the inside.
On June 15, 2004, four people suspected to be Lashkar-e-Toiba militants plotting to kill Modi, were shot down in an encounter by the Ahmedabad police. The four included a 19-year old girl, one Muslim-turned-Hindu, and two others based in Pakistan. This incident, which generated a lot of controversy, was the third such one in which the Gujarat police have shot down civilians on mere suspicion. Though it has been established later on that it was not a mere suspicion but indeed a terrorist conspiracy.
Many political parties in India have asked him to resign following his inability to stop the Gujarat Massacre. But Modi has stood firm and challenged his opposers, and continues to hold power in Gujarat.