Narendra Modi

Early Life and the RSS

Narendra Damodardas Modi was born on 17 September 1950 in Vadnagar, Gujarat, India. According to the profile on the Indian Prime Minister's Office website, his family belonged to the "other backward class" and was poor; he is the first prime minister born after Indian independence. He was introduced to the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at the age of eight and became a full-time worker for the organisation in Gujarat in 1971; during the 1975–1977 Emergency he worked underground, and he later went to Delhi to write the RSS's history of the Emergency. He holds an MA in political science from Gujarat University.

Into the BJP

In 1985 the RSS assigned Modi to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In 1987 he helped organise the party's successful campaign in the Ahmedabad municipal election; in the 1998 Gujarat assembly election he helped select candidates, a strategy credited as central to the party's majority, and in May that year he was promoted to BJP general secretary (organisation).

Chief Minister of Gujarat

In October 2001 Modi became Chief Minister of Gujarat, serving until May 2014 — the longest tenure in that office. After the Godhra train fire of February 2002, large-scale communal violence broke out in Gujarat, causing heavy casualties, and the state government's response drew criticism at home and abroad; in 2005 the US State Department denied him a visa under the International Religious Freedom Act, and the United Kingdom and the European Union also shunned him for a time before lifting their restrictions in 2012 and 2013 respectively. In 2012 a Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court filed a closure report finding no prosecutable evidence against Modi and others; on 24 June 2022 the Supreme Court of India dismissed an appeal against that finding.

Prime Minister

In 2014 Modi led the BJP to an absolute majority in the general election — the first single-party majority since 1984 — and became Prime Minister of India. His first term saw a nationwide sanitation campaign, the "Make in India" initiative and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), and in November 2016 his demonetisation of high-value banknotes stirred controversy. After the Pulwama attack in February 2019 India carried out the Balakot airstrike on a target in Pakistan, and that year he again led the party to an absolute majority; in his second term his government revoked Article 370 of the constitution in August 2019, ending the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir and reorganising it into two union territories. In the 2024 election the BJP won 240 seats, losing its single-party majority, and formed a government with its National Democratic Alliance partners (292 seats in all); Modi was sworn in for a third term on 9 June.

Relations with China

On 17 September 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, to begin a state visit to India; Modi, whose 64th birthday it was, accompanied him on his visits there. On 27–28 April 2018 and 11–12 October 2019, Xi and Modi held two informal summits, in Wuhan and in Chennai, India.

Relations fell to a low after the Galwan Valley clash of June 2020, and the Indian government went on to ban large numbers of Chinese apps, including TikTok and WeChat. On 23 October 2024 Xi and Modi met in Kazan, Russia, during the BRICS summit — their first formal bilateral meeting since the clash; according to the Chinese readout, they agreed to make use of the Special Representatives mechanism on the boundary question. On 31 August 2025 Modi came to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin, where Xi met him; according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry's readout, Modi said that India and China were partners rather than rivals and that India was willing to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question with China.