Indisputably the most charismatic leader of contemporary Indian politics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi built his political career steadily. Born in 1950 in Gujarat’s Mehsana district, Modi joined the RSS when he was 22 and entered the BJP at the age of 37.
He was the charioteer during the Gujarat leg of the Somnath-Ayodhya Ram Rath Yatra in 1990 when the Ram Janambhoomi movement was gaining traction.
Modi was actively involved in the victory of the saffron party in 1995 when the party for the first time secured a majority in the Gujarat Assembly. In 2001 Modi became the Gujarat CM for the first time.
The communal clashes that erupted in the state in 2001 attracted severe allegations against his “insufficient” action during the riots. Subsequently, eight months before expiry of the term, Modi recommended to dissolve the Assembly.
In the ensuing election, Modi returned to the CM chair with a convincing victory for the BJP. He continued the winning streaks in 2007 and 2012. In 2014, the saffron party successfully fought the Lok Sabha polls under Modi. Rest is history.
UP Congress president Ajay Rai has once again been named as the party candidate from Varanasi against PM Modi. Rai says there will be a direct contest between the I.N.D.I.A. bloc and the NDA, and the issue of “local versus outsider” will also figure prominently. Rai has been an MLA three times from Kolasla seat of Varanasi and once from Pindra seat.
He had raised the “local versus outsider” issue in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections while contesting against Modi, but had lost both times. Rai’s career began in the RSS, following which he was made the convener of BJP’s student wing ABVP.
Rai is a graduate of the Kashi Vidyapeeth in Varanasi. He also actively participated in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. His brother Awadhesh Rai was murdered by a gang linked to Mukhtar Ansari and the long trial of the case eventually led to the conviction of the gangster-turned-politician. Ironically, in 2014, Ansari’s party, Qaumi Ekta Dal, had announced support for Rai in the Lok Sabha polls.
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