Narendra Modi: A history-making leader with god-like status – and fierce critics
In contrast to previous leaders who have been privately educated, English-speaking and supported by the urban elites, Narendra Modi eschews the trappings of wealth and lives a life of solitude with no partner or children.
But how did the man who has ruled the world’s largest democracy for a decade get where he is today?
Here’s all you need to know about Mr Modi.
Did he really sell tea?
Modi’s father was a tea seller and his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), emphasises his humble background.
The tale of a young Modi selling tea at a railway station has endeared him to millions of underprivileged Indians, who believe he understands their struggles.
Little is known of his origins and formative years except from what he chooses to share. And it’s a very tightly controlled narrative with a formidable spin machine to provide that aura.
Except his brother has said this tea-selling story isn’t entirely accurate, and that Modi, like the rest of their siblings, just helped their father. So the truth is unclear.
Nevertheless, Indians were “mesmerised” by the story as a “backlash against nepotism, entitlement and dynastic politics”, political analyst Sanjay Jha says.
“They continue to give him the benefit of the doubt; some even believe he can do no wrong. In the perception equation, he is first among equals, giving him carte blanche to do whatever he wishes. It is surreal.”
Pic: AP
When did he get his first break in politics?
His big break came when he was chosen to be chief minister of the state of Gujarat in 2001. He held the role for more than a decade, transforming the state into an economic powerhouse and building his public profile to make a run for the premiership.
He came under scrutiny in 2002 after an argument between Hindu pilgrims and vendors at Godhra station erupted into violence amid allegations a Muslim mob set fire to a train.
The incident saw 59 people lose their lives and sparked large-scale riots across Modi’s state. An overwhelming number of Muslims were killed and thousands of their homes and businesses were destroyed.
Modi and his administration were accused of being complicit in the violence and of not doing enough to stop it, but India’s Supreme Court cleared him. Modi has always denied the allegations and has never expressed remorse.
How did he achieve god-like status?
Whenever Modi makes a public appearance, crowds of thousands gather for a glimpse of him.
Modi supporters wear masks of his face at a rally. Pic: Reuters
Music, prayers and shouts of Modi’s name blare at decibels that make your eardrums ring. His face is printed on dozens of cut-outs, posters and banners.
This is what it’s like when you have a reported 75% approval rating.
On social media, an army of more than 100,000 party workers strive tirelessly to spread Modi’s message directly to his followers.
When did he first become the face of Hindu nationalism?
Modi was just eight years old when he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an organisation dedicated to making India a Hindu nation.
Never shy of showing off his religious identity, a trait most Indians politicians would baulk at, Modi wears it with pride.
“He has portrayed himself as a Hindu leader who has built a certain sense of pride in fellow Hindus,” says Sushant Singh, a lecturer in political science at Yale University.
“Hindu nationalism has gained ground in society, with a marginalisation and victimisation of Muslims and Christians.”
Modi took centre stage in the consecration of the controversial Ram temple in Ayodhya, built atop the ruins of a 16th-century mosque that was torn down by right-wing mobs in 1992.
Hindus believe Lord Ram was born on the exact same spot where the mosque was built in 1529.
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Is Modi popular in India?
Did he keep his wife a secret?
When he first entered politics, Modi presented himself as single, childless and married only to the cause of building a stronger India.
But it later transpired he had a secret wife – a fact only revealed when he filled in the paperwork to run for prime minister in 2014.
In keeping with tradition, his family had arranged a marriage when he was 18. Soon afterwards he left home and the marriage was never consummated.
His wife, Jashodaben, was discovered living a middle class life years later. She has never spoken publicly about Modi except to question the government’s decision to provide her with bodyguards.
“I have to cook for them… It gets really chaotic when I travel, because I use public transport and the guards follow me in an air-conditioned car.”
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Do his claims of economic success stack up?
Modi is never shy of boasting about his economic achievements and emphasises they are for every citizen of India.
But does he use religion and nationalism as a smokescreen for a less rosy economic picture?
While it’s true that India has overtaken Britain as the fifth-largest economy in the world, its GDP per capita remains dismal.
Unemployment is a persistent problem, and thousands of young men risk their lives to seek a better future outside India. Indians are the third-highest nationality when it comes to illegal migration into the United States.
Inequality is at a historic high, even more stark than under colonial Britain. According to a report by the Paris-based World Inequalities Lab, the top 1% of India’s population controls 40% of the nation’s wealth.
India ranks 111th of the 125 nations in the Global Hunger Index (2023) report. The government, however, has rejected the report’s findings.
India is home to more than a third of the world’s malnourished children under the age of five.
Last year Modi announced the extension of a free food ration scheme to 800 million Indians for the next five years.
According to the government, more than 250,000 Indians renounced their citizenship in 2022. If all is well, why are they leaving in such alarming numbers?
A man is detained during a protest against the arrest of the Common Man’s Party’s leader, which opposition leaders said was part of a pre-election crackdown by Modi. Pic: AP
Is he a threat to India’s democracy?
Dissent and protests against Modi or the government have been met with violent police crackdowns.
Since 2014, more than 20,700 NGOs – including international ones such as Amnesty International and Oxfam – have had their licences to work in India revoked after they allegedly violated strict foreign funding laws.
Modi has denied using state agencies to target his opponents.
His administration says India’s democratic institutions are robust, pointing to high voter turnout in recent elections that have delivered Modi’s party a clear mandate.
However, Indian media have found corruption investigations involving 23 of 25 opposition politicians were shelved after they defected to the BJP.
Journalists in India have been beaten, threatened and paid off, and the country ranks 161 out of 180 countries for press freedom.
“India’s democracy in the last decade has collapsed quite substantially,” says Harsh Mander, a fierce critic of Modi, whose home and NGO have been raided multiple times by federal agencies.
“Our judiciary has not been consistent in the defence of constitutional values and the media acts as cheerleaders of the ruling government and propagate hate against Muslim minorities.”
World
‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high
At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.
The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.
Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.
Ten children were reportedly killed when Israel attacked near a clinic on Thursday. Pic: AP
The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.
Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.
Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.
“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.
The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.
It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.
The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.
A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.
The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.
The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.
Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.
The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.
“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.
“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”
Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.
Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.
Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.
“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.
The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.
It said three children and their mother were among the dead.
Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.
On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.
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Do Trump and Netanyahu really get along?
Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.
A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.
People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.
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IDF chief says conditions ‘created’ for Gaza ceasefire
What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal ?
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Lack of food and water ‘lethal’ for Gaza children
Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.
A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.
However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.
Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.
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