6. Narendra Modi
Political leader Narendra Damodardas Modi, who was born on September 17, 1950, has been India's 14th & present prime minister since that year. Modi served as Gujarat's chief minister from 2001 until 2014. He is a supporter of both the right-wing armed Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as well as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Among non-Indian National Congress leaders, he has held the position of Prime Minister the longest.
Modi was born, educated, and had his higher schooling at Vadnagar, which is in northern Gujarat. At age eight, he first discovered the RSS. He had remembered helping out in his father's tea shop at the Vadnagar railway station after school. While Modi has claimed to have traveled for two years in northern India after leaving his parents' house and visited a number of holy sites, little information about his travels has come to light. He relocated back to Gujarat in 1971 and started to work full-time for the RSS. In 1985, the RSS transferred him to the BJP, where he served in a number of capacities until 2001, eventually attaining the post of general secretary.
Keshubhai Patel's deteriorating health & questionable reputation after the Bhuj disaster resulted to Modi's 2001 selection as Gujarat's chief minister. Shortly after, Modi was chosen to serve in the legislative assembly. His government has received negative press for its handling of the Gujarat riots in 2002, which resulted in 1044 fatalities, of whom 75 percent were Muslims.
There was insufficient evidence, according to a Special Investigation Team that the Supreme Court of India constituted, to begin criminal charges against Modi. Although his actions as chief minister has been praised for promoting economic development, his government has come under fire for failing to substantially enhance the state's health, poverty, and educational indices.
For the first time since 1984, the BJP was represented by Modi in the national election of 2014, which earned the group a majority in the Lok Sabha, the country's lower house of parliament. In spite of reducing spending on social benefits and healthcare programs. Modi's administration has worked to encourage investment from abroad in India's economy. In the interest of combining power, Modi dissolved the Planning Commission and replaced it with the NITI Aayog.
He started a well-known cleanliness drive, controversially started the demonetization of high-denomination banknotes and a change in taxes, and reduced or repealed labor and environmental legislation. He directed how the nation dealt with the COVID-19 outbreak. Modi has maintained a high level of support throughout his tenure as prime minister. Backsliding in democratic practices has occurred in India under Modi's rule.
When his party won the 2019 general election, his government repealed the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, passed the Citizenship Amendment Act, and passed three contentious farm laws. These actions sparked huge demonstrations and sit-ins throughout the nation, and the last three of these laws were formally repealed.
Modi, who has been alleged of directing a political revolution towards right-wing politics, is still a source of controversy both domestically and abroad due to his support for Hindu nationalism and his handling of the Gujarat riots in 2002, which have been used as examples of his majoritarian and exclusionary social agenda. Narendra Modi should be included in the "Top 10 most powerful Politicians in the world" list because of his accomplishments, which range from selling tea to becoming India's 14th Prime Minister.
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