NDTV.com | Updated: March 27, 2014 19:36 IST
File photo of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi addressing an election rally
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New Delhi: An anthem for the general elections 2014 released by the BJP recently says it all in verse and song and in just over a minute. For the BJP, this election is about Narendra Modi, the man it has nominated for prime minister.
In the anthem video, Mr Modi recites lines penned by popular Bollywood lyricist Prasoon Joshi, as a song plays pledging that he will "save the country." It ends with a vote appeal.
Opinion polls and surveys give the Modi-led BJP an edge in this year's general elections. If Mr Modi does become Prime Minister in May this year, the boy in Gujarat who sold tea on trains would have come a very long way. That boy has, in many ways, become the mascot of Mr Modi's pitch for the post of PM.
The BJP announced in September last year that the Gujarat Chief Minister would be its candidate for prime minister. It did so despite stiff opposition from party heavyweight LK Advani. In the months since, Mr Advani and others who have been seen as anti-Modi have either fallen in line or by the wayside.
It became clear in December 2012 that Narendra Modi's aspiration to step out of Gujarat could not be ignored after he registered a third successive and very convincing win in the Assembly elections.
In the days since, he lunched with ambassadors of the European Union, which ended its decade-long boycott of the Gujarat Chief Minster saying, "we are now in a new phase." A year later came a visit to Gujarat by US ambassador to India, Nancy Powell, ending her country's boycott of diplomatic engagement with Mr Modi after the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat.
Critics accuse Mr Modi of not doing enough to stem communal violence in his state that year. Some even accused him of complicity, but that has never been proved in inquiries and an Ahmedabad court recently accepted a clean chit given to him by a special investigation team appointed by the Supreme Court.
With his political stock high, many rivals have now softened their stand on Mr Modi, often citing the court's verdict. Those who had walked away from the BJP and the national alliance it leads in the years after the Gujarat riots, are walking back now. In Bihar, Ram Vilas Paswan is again a BJP ally. In Andhra Prdaesh, Chandrababu Naidu is said to be poised to rejoin the NDA.
In recent years, Mr Modi has assiduously attempted to change his image of a 'Hindutva' hardliner. He has attempted to reach out to minorities. And he has trumpeted Gujarat's high growth and investment report card to project himself as a progressive, pro-development leader best equipped to help rid the country of its economic and social problems.
His detractors allege that marketing savvy and not a change of heart has shaped the new Modi.
Mr Modi has never contested parliamentary elections before. The BJP has fielded him from two seats - Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Vadodara in Gujarat. It has also crafted a high-energy election campaign for him.
An innovative and interactive"chai pe charcha or discussion over tea" programme underlines his humble beginnings and spectacular political rise. The 63-year-old has just begun a blitzkreig of 185 rallies across the country, which takes him to three or four constituencies in different states in a single day.
Officials in Mr Modi's government and local business leaders paint the picture of a man with a phenomenal memory, great attention to detail, unflagging energy and a flair for publicity. People who have met him say nothing escapes him. But they also describe him as a man with a vindictive streak, capable of holding grudges for years and intolerant of dissent.
Narendra Modi was born to lower middle-class parents in northern Gujarat on September 17, 1950. He holds a Master's degree in political science.
Mr Modi joined and rose through the ranks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of the BJP, early in life.
A stocky, bespectacled man with a trimmed white beard, the Gujarat Chief Minister is known for his ascetic lifestyle and enthusiasm for yoga. He rises early and has for years read news on the Internet. He uses social media very effectively, tweeting extensively and has more than 3.6 million followers on Twitter.
Story first published:
March 27, 2014 17:19 IST
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