DEADLY RIOTS
While the RSS groomed Modi for a career in its political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which through the 1990s was growing into a major force.
He was appointed chief minister of Gujarat in 2001 but the following year the state was rocked by sectarian riots, sparked by a fire that killed dozens of Hindu pilgrims.
At least 1,000 people were killed in the ensuing violence, with most of the victims Muslims.
Modi was accused of both helping stir up the unrest and failing to order a police intervention.
He later told a BBC reporter that his main weakness in responding to the riots was not knowing “how to handle the media”.
A probe by India’s top court eventually said there was no evidence to prosecute Modi, but the international fallout saw him banned from entering the United States and Britain for years.
However, it was a testament to India’s changing political tides that his popularity only grew at home.
He built a reputation as a leader ready to assert the interests of Hindus, who he contended had been held back by the secularist forces that ruled the country almost continuously since independence from Britain.
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