Narendra Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers in Vadnagar, Mehsana district, Bombay State (present-day Gujarat). He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and Hiraben Modi.^[18] Modi's family belonged to the Modh-Ghanchi-Teli (oil-presser) community,^{[19][20][21][22]} which is categorised as an Other Backward Class by the Indian government.^[22][23]

As a child, Modi helped his father sell tea at the Vadnagar railway station, and later ran a tea stall with his brother near a bus terminus.^[24][25] Modi completed his higher secondary education in Vadnagar in 1967, where a teacher described him as an average student and a keen debater, with an interest in theatre.^[24] Modi had an early gift for rhetoric in debates, and this was noted by his teachers and students.^[26] Modi preferred playing larger-than-life characters in theatrical productions, which has influenced his political image.^[27][28]

At age eight, Modi discovered the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and began attending its local shakhas (training sessions). There, Modi met Lakshmanrao Inamdar, popularly known as Vakil Saheb, who inducted him as a balswayamsevak (junior cadet) for RSS and became his political mentor.^[29] While Modi was training with the RSS, he also met Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders who were founding members of the BJP's Gujarat unit in 1980.^[30][31]

Engaged while still a child to a local girl, Jashodaben Narendrabhai Modi, Modi rejected the arranged marriage at the same time he graduated from high school.^[32] The resulting familial tensions contributed to his decision to leave home in 1967.^[33]

Modi spent the ensuing two years travelling across Northern and North-eastern India, though few details of where he went have emerged.^[34] In interviews, Modi has described visiting Hindu ashrams founded by Swami Vivekananda: the Belur Math near Kolkata, followed by the Advaita Ashrama in Almora and the Ramakrishna Mission in Rajkot. Modi remained only a short time at each, since he lacked the required college education.^[35][36][37] "Modi's life is said to have Vivekananda's deep influence. People close to Modi have often been quoted, saying that Modi has molded many aspects of his life as Vivekananda's."^[38]

Reaching the Belur Math in the early summer of 1968 and being turned away, Modi wandered through Calcutta, West Bengal and Assam, stopping by Siliguri and Guwahati.^[39] Modi then went to the Ramakrishna Ashram in Almora, where he was again rejected, before travelling back to Gujarat via Delhi and Rajasthan in 1968-69.^[40] Sometime in late 1969 or early 1970, Modi returned to Vadnagar for a brief visit before leaving again for Ahmedabad.^[41] There, Modi lived with his uncle, working in the latter's canteen at the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation.^[42][43]

In Ahmedabad, Modi renewed his acquaintance with Inamdar, who was based at Hedgewar Bhavan (RSS headquarters) in the city.^[44][45][46] After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he stopped working for his uncle and became a full-time pracharak (campaigner) for the RSS.^[43] In 1978, Modi became an RSS sambhag pracharak (regional organiser), and received a degree in Political Scienceafter a distance-education course from Delhi University.^[47][48] Five years later, he received a Master of Arts degree in political science from Gujarat University in 1982.^[49][50]

On 26 June 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India which lasted until 1977. During this period, many of her political opponents were jailed and opposition groups (including the RSS) were banned.^[51][52] As pracharak in-charge of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, Modi was forced to go underground in Gujarat and frequently travelled in disguise to avoid arrest. He became involved in printing pamphlets opposing the government, sending them to Delhi and organising demonstrations.^{[24][53][54][55]} During this period, Modi wrote a book in Gujarati, Sangharsh ma Gujarat (The Struggles of Gujarat), describing events during the Emergency.^[56][57]

He was assigned by the RSS to the BJP in 1985.^[30] In 1988, Modi was elected organising secretary of the party's Gujarat unit, marking his entrance into electoral politics.^[47][58]He rose within the party, helping organise L. K. Advani's 1990 Ram Rath Yatra in 1990 and Murli Manohar Joshi's 1991–92 Ekta Yatra (Journey for Unity).^[24][59] As party secretary, Modi's electoral strategy was considered central to BJP victory in the 1995 state assembly elections.^[30][60][61] In November of that year Modi was elected BJP national secretary and transferred to New Delhi, where he assumed responsibility for party activities in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.^[60][62] The following year, Shankersinh Vaghela(one of the most prominent BJP leaders in Gujarat) defected to the INC after losing his parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha elections.^[24] 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,^[60][63] and Modi was promoted to BJP general secretary (organisation) in May of that year.^[64]

In 2001, Patel's health was failing and the BJP had lost seats in the 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 2001 Bhuj earthquake.^[60][65][66] The BJP national leadership sought a new candidate for chief minister, and Modi (who had expressed misgivings about Patel's administration) was chosen as a replacement.^[24] Although 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 and told Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee 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.^[67][68] As Chief Minister, Modi favoured privatisation and small government; this was at odds with political commentator Aditi Phadnis' description of the RSS as anti-privatisation and anti-globalisation.^[65]

On 7 October 2001, Modi was administered the oath of office.^[69] On 24 February 2002 he won a by-election to the Rajkot – II assembly constituency, defeating Ashwin Mehta of the Indian National Congress (INC) by 14,728 votes.^[70]

On 27 February 2002, a train with several hundred passengers was burned near Godhra, killing approximately 60 people.^[a] The train carried a large number of Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya after a religious ceremony at the site of the demolished Babri Masjid.^[73][74] In making a public statement after the incident, Modi said that the attack had been pre-planned terror attack by local Muslims.^[73][75][76] The next day, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad called for a bandh across the state.^[77][78] Riots began during the bandh, and anti-Muslim violence spread through Gujarat.^[73][77][78] The government's decision to move the bodies of the train victims from Godhra to Ahmedabad had the effect of further inflaming the violence.^[73][79] The state government stated later that 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed.^[80] Independent sources put the death toll at over 2000.^[73][81]Approximately 150,000 people were driven to refugee camps.^[82] Numerous women and children were among the victims; the violence included mass rapes and mutilations of women.^[83]

The government of Gujarat itself is generally considered by scholars to have been complicit in the riots,^[75][83][84] and has otherwise received heavy criticism for its handling of the situation.^[85] Several scholars have described the violence as a pogrom, while others have called it an example of state terrorism.^[86][87][88] Summarising academic views on the subject, Martha Nussbaum said: "There is by now a broad consensus that the Gujarat violence was a form of ethnic cleansing, that in many ways it was premeditated, and that it was carried out with the complicity of the state government and officers of the law."^[83] The Modi government imposed a curfew in 26 major cities, issued shoot-at-sight orders and called for the army to patrol the streets, but was unable to prevent the violence from escalating.^[77][78] The president of the state unit of the BJP expressed support for the bandh, despite such actions being illegal at the time.^[75] State officials later prevented riot victims from leaving the refugee camps, and the camps were often unable to meet the needs of those living there.^[89] Muslim victims of the riots were subject to further discrimination when the state government announced that compensation for Muslim victims would be half of that offered to Hindus, although this decision was later reversed after the issue was taken to court.^[90] During the riots, police officers often did not intervene in situations where they were able.^[76][83][91] In 2012 Maya Kodnani, a minister in Modi's government from 2007 to 2009, was convicted of participation in the Naroda Patiya massacre during the 2002 riots.^[92][93] Although Modi's government had announced that it would seek the death penalty for Kodnani on appeal, it reversed its decision in 2013.^[94][95]

Modi's personal involvement in the 2002 events has continued to be debated. During the riots, Modi said that "What is happening is a chain of action and reaction."^[83] Later in 2002, Modi said the way in which he had handled the media was his only regret regarding the episode.^[96] He subsequently claimed that some journalists at India's NDTV channel had acted irresponsibly in their coverage of the events.^[97] In March 2008, the Supreme Court reopened several cases related to the 2002 riots, including that of the Gulbarg Society massacre, and established a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the issue.^[85][98][99] In response to a petition from Zakia Jafri (widow of Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre), in April 2009 the court also asked the SIT to investigate the issue of Modi's complicity in the killings.^[98] The SIT questioned Modi in March 2010; in May, it presented to the court a report finding no evidence against Modi.^[98][100] In July 2011, the court-appointed amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran submitted his final report to the court. Contrary to the SIT's position, he said that Modi could be prosecuted based on the available evidence.^[101][102] The Supreme Court gave the matter to the magistrate court. The SIT examined Ramachandran's report, and in March 2012 submitted its final report, asking for the case to be closed. Zakia Jaffri filed a protest petition in response. In December 2013 the magistrate court rejected the protest petition, accepting the SIT's finding that there was no evidence against the chief minister.^[103]

In the aftermath of the violence came widespread calls for Modi to resign as chief minister from within and outside the state, including leaders of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagamand the Telugu Desam Party (allies in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance coalition), and opposition parties stalled Parliament over the issue.^[104] Modi submitted his resignation, which was not accepted, at the April 2002 BJP national executive meeting in Goa.^[105] His cabinet had a 19 July 2002 emergency meeting, offered its resignation to the Gujarat Governor S. S. Bhandari and the assembly was dissolved.^[106][107] In the subsequent elections, the BJP won 127 seats in the 182-member assembly.^[108] Although Modi later denied it, he made significant use of anti-Muslim rhetoric during his campaign.^{[109][110][111][112]} He won the Maninagar constituency, receiving 1,13,589 of 1,54,981 votes and defeating INC candidate Yatin Oza by 75,333 votes.^[113] On 22 December 2002, Bhandari swore Modi in for a second term.^[114]

After accusations of anti-Muslim rhetoric during the campaign, during Modi's second term his emphasis shifted from Hindutva to Gujarat's economic development.^[65][109] He curtailed the influence of Sangh Parivar organisations such as the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP),^[115] entrenched in the state after the decline of Ahmedabad's textile industry,^[65] and dropped Gordhan Zadafia (an ally of former Sangh co-worker and VHP state chief Praveen Togadia) from his cabinet. When the BKS staged a farmers' demonstration Modi ordered their eviction from state-provided houses, and his decision to demolish 200 illegal temples in Gandhinagardeepened the rift with the VHP.^[115][116] Sangh organisations were no longer consulted or informed in advance about Modi's administrative decisions.^[115]

His 2002–07 changes have led to Gujarat's description as an attractive investment destination. According to Aditi Phadnis, "There was sufficient anecdotal evidence pointing to the fact that corruption had gone down significantly in the state ... if there was to be any corruption, Modi had to know about it".^[65] He established financial and technology parks in Gujarat and during the 2007 Vibrant Gujaratsummit, real-estate investment deals worth ₹6.6 trillion were signed in the state.^[65]

Despite his second-term focus on economic issues, Modi's relationship with Muslims continued to be criticised. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (who asked Modi for tolerance in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat violence and supported his resignation as chief minister)^[117][118] distanced himself, reaching out to North Indian Muslims before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. After the elections Vajpayee called the violence in Gujarat a reason for the BJP's electoral defeat and said it had been a mistake to leave Modi in office after the riots.^[119][120]

During the run-up to the 2007 assembly elections and the 2009 general election, the BJP ramped up its rhetoric on terrorism.^[121] On 18 July 2006, Modi criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh " ... for his reluctance to revive anti-terror legislation" such as the 2002 Prevention of Terrorism Act. He asked the national government to allow states to invoke tougher laws in the wake of the 2006 Mumbai blasts^[122] and demanded the execution of Afzal Guru,^[123] a collaborator with Pakistani jihadists who was convicted of terrorism for his involvement in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack.^[124][b] After the November 2008 Mumbai attacks Modi held a meeting to discuss the security of Gujarat's 1,600-kilometre (990 mi)-long coastline, resulting in government authorisation of 30 high-speed surveillance boats.^[125] In July 2007 Modi completed 2,063 consecutive days as chief minister of Gujarat (making him the longest-serving holder of that post),^[126] and the BJP won 122 of 182 state-assembly seats in that year's election.^[127]