Hindustan Times House, New Delhi

Hindustan Times (HT) is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ("Hindustan" being a historical name for India).^[2]

It is the flagship publication of HT Media Ltd. Hindustan Times is one of the largest newspapers in India, by circulation. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.4 million copies as of 2010. The Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2011 revealed that HT has a readership of (37.37 lakhs), placing it as the second most widely read English newspaper in India after The Times of India.^[3] It has a wide reach in northern India, with simultaneous editions from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi, Bhopal and Chandigarh. The print location of Jaipur was discontinued from June 2006. HT launched a youth daily, HT Next, in 2004. The Mumbai edition was launched on 14 July 2005 and the Kolkata edition was launched on early 2000.

Other sister publications of Hindustan Times are Mint (English business daily), Hindustan (Hindi Daily), Nandan (monthly children's magazine) and Kadambani (monthly literary magazine). The media group owns a radio channel, Fever, and organises an annual Luxury Conference which has featured speakers like designer Diane von Fürstenberg, shoemaker Christian Louboutin, Gucci CEO Robert Polet and Cartier MD Patrick Normand. Hindustan Times is owned by the KK Birla branch of the Birla family.

History[link]

Hindustan Times was founded in 1924 by Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri, founder-father of the Akali movement and the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab.^[4] S Mangal Singh Gill (Tesildar) and S. Chanchal Singh (Jandiala, Jalandhar) were made in charge of the newspaper. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and Master Tara Singh were among the members of the Managing Committee. The Managing Chairman and Chief Patron was Master Sunder Singh Lyallpuri.

K. M. Panikkar was its first editor with Devdas Gandhi (son of Mahatma Gandhi) on the editor's panel. The opening ceremony was performed by Mahatma Gandhi on 26 September 1924. The first issue was published from Naya Bazar, Delhi (now Swami Sharda Nand Marg). It contained writings and articles from C. F. Andrews, St. Nihal Singh, Maulana Mohammad Ali, C. R. Reddy (Dr. Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy), T. L. Vaswani, Ruchi Ram Sahni, Bernard Haton, Harinder Nath Chattopadhyaya, Dr Saifuddin Kichlu and Rubi Waston etc.

"Sadar Panikkar launched the Hindustan Times as a serious nationalist newspaper. As an Oxonian, historian, and litterateur, Panikkar must have hoped to make his paper eventually more than an Akali sheet. He became the editor and funds flowed freely from activist Akali patrons. He exerted himself strenuously, but the paper made very little headway. In two years Panikkar could not take the print order any higher than 3,000. By then the Akali movement appeared to lose steam and funds dried up. The paper was saved from an untimely demise when Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya stepped in to realise his vision of a newspaper in Delhi." - TJS George, Lessons in Journalism, 2007, Viva Books, New Delhi.

Malaviya raised Rs. 50,000 rupees to acquire the Hindustan Times along with the help of nationalist leaders Lajpat Rai and M. R. Jayakar and industrialist G. D. Birla, who paid most of the cash. Birla took full control of the paper in 1933. The paper continues to be owned by the Birla family.

It has its roots in the Indian independence movement of the first half of the twentieth century and even faced the noted "Hindustan Times Contempt Case (August–November, 1941)" at Allahabad High Court.^[5] It was edited at times by many important people in India, including Devdas Gandhi and Khushwant Singh. Sanjoy Narayan, has been appointed the editor in chief of the paper and was due to take over in August 2008.^[6] Recently^[when?] the editorial page has seen a major makeover and has been named "comment" to bring in more flexibility and some-what less seriousness to the page.

[edit] HT Mumbai edition

HT Mumbai has an eight-page daily lifestyle supplement (in tabloid format) called HT Cafe. It has its education supplement called "HT Education" on Wednesdays. The paper also comes with a magazine on Sundays called Brunch. The Mumbai edition is managed by Mohit Ahuja, an alumnus of NMIMS, Bombay. The resident editor in Mumbai is Soumya Bhattacharya.

Ownership[link]

The Delhi-based English daily Hindustan Times is part of the KK Birla group and managed by Shobhana Bhartia, daughter of the industrialist KK Birla and granddaughter of GD Birla. It is owned by HT Media Ltd. The KK Birla group owns a 69 per cent stake in HT Media, currently valued at Rs 834 crore. When Shobhana Bhartia joined Hindustan Times in 1986, she was the first woman chief executive of a national newspaper. Shobhana has been nominated as a Rajya Sabha MP from Congress Party.

Along with Hindustan Times, HT Media owns Desimartini, Fever 104 FM, and Mint (newspaper).

Supplements[link]

^[7]

• Brunch: An exclusive lifestyle magazine, every Sunday. The readers of HT wake up to Brunch every Sunday morning, which is one of best-loved offerings from its stable. In a magazine format and clearly about ‘the good life’, it covers stories around food, fashion, shopping, travel, health & wellness, books & movie reviews, celebrity talk, lifestyle etc. One of the biggest draws of Brunch is the bouquet of columns by prominent journalists like Vir Sanghvi (food & travel), Sanjoy Narayan (music) and Rajiv Makhni (technology). This universally appealing brand has the core target group vested in upwardly mobile young families, looking for enhancing their lifestyle quotient.

• HT City and HT Cafe: The entertainment & lifestyle supplement, every day. The Hindustan Times reader wakes up to a bundle of fun, frolic, entertainment and masala everyday called HT City (in Delhi) and HT Café (in Mumbai). One of the strongest drivers of readership, the daily entertainment supplement enjoys almost universal salience and readership. The buzzy daily supplement has redefined lifestyle and entertainment space in newspapers, packing a punch with daily dose of Bollywood, Hollywood, Fashion, Relationship, City and Campus. The supplement offers an array of daily sections catering to different tastes - health & wellness, gadgets, travel, motoring and food. One of the biggest draws of the supplement is the Weekend Planner on Fridays that the young people of Delhi & Mumbai refer to as a guide to living it up in the city.

• HT Education: Education Supplement, every Wednesday (earlier known as HT Horizons). HT Education offers the much needed guidance and mentorship to the students, which really helps them in choosing the best in education leading to a great career. HT Education is a supplement dedicated to serving the needs of not only student community from 10th to post graduates, but also the parents who are concerned about their child’s future. The supplement is a source of comprehensive info around – career options, admission and scholarship information, college profiles, guidance and expert counseling. It’s a one-stop guide to the students to prepare for their most exciting phase in life.

• HT Estates : Real Estate supplement, every Saturday. HT Estates as a supplement partners and corroborates the readers with information that helps them buy or sell their properties. This supplement comes with the newspaper every Saturday. The supplement offers countless options on property buying and selling. Along with that the supplement also enlightens both the buyers and sellers on legal aspects of realty transactions. Specifically for buyers the supplement offers array of information on realty trends, loan rates, etc.

• Shine Jobs : Career supplement, every Tuesday. Shine Jobs, with its unique relationship with Shine.com, is the only print career supplement which offers both online and print recruitment under one umbrella and one brand. This gives candidates and employers the opportunity to effectively reach each other across both platforms. Shine Jobs was re-launched with a brand new look and promise of hundreds of jobs for its readers. It now carries numerous jobs from top companies in the country, along with the best jobs available on Shine.com, across managerial levels, industries and cities. It also offers valuable information on overall career development, interview tips, HR trends, hot hiring sectors and many more useful career-related topics. Shine Jobs is a must-read for all those on the look-out for the next best career opportunity.

• HT Live : A ‘peek around the corner’ is what Live offers to its readers - a supplement that caters to the readers’ quest for local news. This supplement has dedicated 8 editions for 8 zones in Delhi and appears once a week in every zone. The supplement highlights the hits and misses on infrastructural development and lifestyle centered around neighbourhoods. It offers a bag full of interesting local news and local advertising which helps readers get immediate assistance on their requirements.

Columnists[link]

• Vir Sanghvi: Vir Sanghvi is an editorial advisor for Hindustan Times. He writes a column 'Rude Food' for 'Brunch', a weekly magazine.

• Karan Thapar: Currently the president of Infotainment Television and one of India's noted television commentators and interviewers, Karan Thapar writes the weekly column "Sunday Sentiments".

• Manas Chakravarty: Capital market analyst for Mint. Writes weekly column "Loose Canon" on Sundays'.

• Poonam Saxena: She is the editor of Brunch, the Hindustan Times Sunday magazine. She does a weekly TV review column, "Small Screen".

• Indrajit Hazra: A novelist and a senior editor at Hindustan Times, Hazra writes the weekly column "Red Herring".

• Sonal Kalra: An author and editor of HT City, the daily entertainment and lifestyle supplement of Hindustan Times, Writes the weekly column "A Calmer You".

• Khushwant Singh: An editorial writer whose column "With Malice towards One and All" appears in the Saturday edition.

• Barkha Dutt: Journalist and NDTV Group editor. Writes a fortnightly column.

• Samar Halarnkar: Editor-at-large, writes on a variety of issues and also runs a food blog on the Hindustan Times website.

See also[link]

Delhi portal

• Times of India
• The Hindu
• List of newspapers in India by circulation
• List of newspapers in the world by circulation

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.hindustantimes.com/ (Online edition of Hindustan Times)
• http://epaper.hindustantimes.com (Hindustan Times epaper)
• http://epaper.htedge.com/ (HTEdge ePaper)
• Kumar Mangalam Birla Chancellor and Shobana Bhartia Pro Chancellor BITS Pilani
• http://blogs.hindustantimes.com (Editorial blogs of Hindustan Times)

Hindustan map, 1831

Hindustan (Hindi: हिन्दुस्तान, Urdu: ہندوستان, both Hindustān [ɦɪnd̪ʊˈst̪aːn]) or Indostan, literally "land of Indians" or "land of the Indus", is a popular name for the Indian subcontinent. Delhi and Agra have been the traditional capitals of Hindustan.^[1] Though the meaning of Hindustan has evolved over the years, since the partition of India it primarily refers to the Republic of India.^[2]

Etymology[link]

Hindustan is conventionally believed to be derived from the Old Persian word Hindu, which in turn is derived from Sindhu, the Sanskrit name for the Indus River.^[3] Old Persian refers to the people living beyond the Indus as Hinduš. This combined with the Avestan suffix -stān (cognate to Sanskrit "sthān", both meaning "place")^[4] results in Hindustan, as the land on the other side (from Persia) of the Indus. The term came into common use under the rule of the Mughals who referred to their dominion, centred on Delhi, as 'Hindustan'. A similar term, Indostan, was in common use during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to denote the countries of South Asia. Today "Indostan" is regarded as an archaism.

An alternate and infrequently cited theory on the origin of the word Hindustan puts it further the back in time. This may be based on the Sanskrit shloka from the Barhaspatya Samhita of the Rigveda (ca. 1700-1100 BC):

Himalyam Samarabhya

Yavadindusarovaram

Tam Deonirmitam Desham

Hindusthanam Prachakshate

Translation: "The country which starts from Himalayas and the borders of which reach till the Indian Ocean (Indu Sarovaram), has been created by Gods and its name is Hindusthan."^[5]

Current usage[link]

Geographic area[link]

Historically, the term "Hindustan" is usually applied to the Gangetic Plain of North India, between the Himalayas and the Vindhyas.^[6]

Further, it may relate to various aspects belonging to three geographical areas: the modern Republic of India, the Indian subcontinent during medieval times, or a region in northern India, east and south of the Yamuna river, between the Vindhya mountains and the Himalayas where Hindustani languages are spoken.

In modern Persian, Urdu and Hindi, Hindustan and its abbreviated version Hind, usually refer to the current Republic of India. The abbreviated version appears in the common nationalist salutation of India, Jai Hind, coined by Major Abid Hasan Safrani of the Indian National Army as a shortened version of Jai Hindustan Ki (translation: Victory to India).^[7] It was popularized by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who used it on Azad Hind Radio during the Indian independence movement. It appears in the revered song, Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon. Today, it is widely used as a salutation and a battle cry in the Indian Armed Forces. It is also commonly used to sign off at the end of major speeches.

People[link]

In its current usage in India, the term 'Hindustani' refers to an Indian, irrespective of religious affiliation.

Hindustani is sometimes used as an ethnic term applied to South Asia (e.g., a Surinamese man with roots in South Asia might describe his ethnicity by saying he is Hindustani.) For example, Hindoestanen is a Dutch word used to describe people of South Asian origin, in Netherlands and Suriname.

In Pakistan, the term 'Hindustani' was also infrequently used to refer to Urdu-speaking people in Karachi and Hyderabad, Sindh, who migrated from India during the partition of 1947.[source?] However, these people are now commonly referred to as Muhajirs.

Language[link]

Hindustani is also used to refer to the Hindi-Urdu language, which derives from the Khariboli dialect of Western Uttar Pradesh, Southern Uttarakhand and New Delhi areas.

Popular culture[link]

Hindustan is the title of a 1918 popular song written by Oliver Wallace & Harold Weeks. It was popularized in recordings by a duet of Henry Burr & Albert Campbell on Columbia and the dance orchestra of Joseph C. Smith on Victor. It was revived in 1948 by Ted Weems on Mercury featuring the whistling of Elmo Tanner. Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney recorded a duet for the 1958 album Fancy Meeting You Here.

See also[link]

• Greater India
• Hindustani
• History of India

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• A Sketch of the History of Hindustan from the First Muslim Conquest to the Fall of the Mughal Empire by H. G. Keene. (Hindustan The English Historical Review, Vol. 2, No. 5 (Jan., 1887), pp. 180-181.)
• STORY OF INDIA THROUGH THE AGES; An Entertaining History of Hindustan, to the Suppression of the Mutiny, by Flora Annie Steel, 1909 E.P. Dutton and Co., New York. (as recommended by the New York Times; Flora Annie Steel Book Review, February 20, 1909, New York Times.)
• The History of Hindustan: Post Classical and Modern, Ed. B.S. Danniya and Alexander Dow. 2003, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-1993-4. (History of Hindustan (First published: 1770-1772). Dow had succeeded his father as the private secretary of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.)

Coordinates: 20°00′N 78°00′E / 20°N 78°E / 20; 78

Narendra Modi નરેન્દ્ર મોદી
Chief Minister of Gujarat
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 October 2001
Governor	Dr. Kamla Beniwal
Preceded by	Keshubhai Patel
Constituency	Maninagar
Personal details
Born	(1950-09-17) 17 September 1950 (age 61) Vadnagar, Gujarat, India
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Residence	Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India
Alma mater	Gujarat University[1]
Religion	Hinduism
Website	Narendra Modi
As of 9 March, 2009 Source: Government of Gujarat

Narendra Damodardas Modi (Gujarati: નરેન્દ્ર મોદી; born 17 September 1950^[1]) is the current Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat. Born in a middle class family in Vadnagar, he was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife Heeraben.^[2] He has been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood also having interest in politics since adolescence. He holds a master's degree in political science. In 1998, he was chosen by L. K. Advani, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to direct the election campaign in Gujarat as well as Himachal Pradesh.

He became Chief Minister of Gujarat in October 2001, promoted to the office at a time when his predecessor Keshubhai Patel had resigned, following the defeat of BJP in the by-elections. His tenure as chief minister of Gujarat began on 7 October 2001, and he is the longest serving Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat.^[3] In July 2007 he became the longest serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history when he had been in power for 2063 days continuously.^[4] He was elected again for a third term^[5] on 23 December 2007 in the state elections, which he had cast as a "referendum on his rule".^[6][7]

Personal life[link]

Modi was born in a middle class family in Vadnagar in Mehsana district of what was then Bombay State, India.^[8] During the Indo-Pak war in the mid sixties, even as a young boy, he volunteered to serve the soldiers in transit at railway stations.^[9] As a young man, he joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a student organisation and was involved in the anti-corruption Nav Nirmāṇ ("Reconstruction") Movement. After working as a full time organiser for the organisation, he was later nominated as its representative in the Bharatiya Janata Party.^[10] As a teenager Modi used to run a tea stall with his brother.^[11] Modi completed his schooling in Vadnagar. He earned a masters degree in political science from Gujarat University.^[12]

Early activism and politics[link]

Modi was a pracharak (campaigner) in the RSS during his university years.^[12][13] He took up the challenging task of energising the party cadres in right earnest. In partnership with Shankersinh Vaghela, Modi set about creating a strong cadre base in Gujarat. In the initial period, Vaghela was seen as a mass leader, while Modi was recognised as a master strategist.

The party started gaining political mileage and formed a coalition government at the centre in April 1990. This partnership fell apart within a few months, but the BJP came to power with a two-thirds majority on its own in Gujarat in 1995. During this period, Modi was entrusted with the responsibility of organising two crucial national events, the Somnath to Ayodhya Rath Yatra (a political rally through India on a converted Toyota van) of L.K. Advani and a similar march from Kanyakumari (the southernmost part of India) to Kashmir in the North. After the exit of Shankarsingh Vaghela from the BJP, Keshubhai Patel was made Chief Minister while Narendra Modi was sent to New Delhi as a General Secretary of the Party.

In 1995, Modi was appointed the National Secretary of the party and given the charge of five major states in India. In 1998, he was promoted as the General Secretary (Organization), a post he held until October 2001. In 2001, Narendra Modi was chosen by the party to be the Chief Minister of Gujarat after the removal of chief minister Keshubhai Patel.

Tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat[link]

Personality[link]

Modi is known for leading a frugal lifestyle. He has a personal staff of just three. He is known to be a workaholic Chief Minister and an introvert.^[14] He ordered the demolition of many Hindu temples that were built without proper government sanction which earned him the ire of VHP^[11] He is a crowd puller as a speaker. Modi has also tried to turn his image from an Hindu Nationalist politician to an image of able administrator. He wears business suits and is improving his command over the English language.^[15]

Awards and recognitions[link]

Modi was awarded Gujarat Ratna by Shri Poona Gujarati Bandhu Samaj at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch on celebration of centenary year.^[16]

Development of Gujarat[link]

As a Chief Minister, Modi started various 'yojanas' or plans. This includes:

• Panchamrut Yojana,^[17][18][19] a five-pronged strategy for an integrated development of the state,
• Sujalam Sufalam, a scheme to create a grid of water resources in Gujarat in an innovative step towards water conservation and its appropriate utilisation.
• Krishi Mahotsav – agricultural research labs for the land
• Chiranjeevi Yojana – To reduce infant mortality rate
• Matru Vandana – Providing preventive and curative services under the Reproductive and Child Health Programme
• Beti Bachao – Campaign against female infanticide to improve sex ratio
• Jyotigram Yojana – Provide electricity to every village
• Karmayogi Abhiyan – To educate and train government employees
• Kanya Kelavani Yojana – To encourage female literacy and education
• Balbhog Yojana – Midday meal scheme for students to encourage school attendance from poor backgrounds.^[20]

Vibrant Gujarat[link]

Vibrant Gujarat is a biennial Global Investors' Summit held by the Government of Gujarat in Gujarat, India. The event is aimed at bringing together business leaders, investors, corporations, thought leaders, policy and opinion makers; the summit is advertised as a platform to understand and explore business opportunities in the State of Gujarat. the event has been held continuously since 2003.

Gujarat earthquake[link]

The biggest challenge which he had to face when he took over as the Chief Minister, was the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the areas affected by the massive Gujarat Earthquake of January 2001.

Gujarat violence[link]

On 27 February 2002, a train was burned by a Muslim mob in the town of Godhra leading to 59 deaths, most of them Hindu pilgrims and activists returning from the holy city of Ayodhya.^[21] Riots broke out in the state after it was suspected to be caused by Muslims, leading to 1180 deaths, many of them Muslims. Modi administration was accused of inaction over the riots and for encouraging them.^[15] As an aftermath of the riots, there were calls for Modi to resign from his position as chief minister of Gujarat. The opposition parties stalled the national parliament over the issue. Even Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP), allies of the BJP, asked for Modi's resignation.^[22][23] Modi submitted his resignation to the Governor and recommended the dissolution of the 10th Gujarat Legislative Assembly.^[24][25] In the following state re-elections the BJP, led by Modi, won 127 seats in the 182-member assembly.

In April 2009, the Supreme Court of India appointed a special team of investigators to look into the role Modi had played in the alleged anti-Muslim conspiracy.^[15] The team was appointed in response to the complaint of zakia Jafri, the widow of ex-Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was murdered in the riots.^[26] In December 2010, a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in its report to the Supreme Court seeking answers pertaining to the Ehsan Jafri case, submitted that they had found no evidence against Narendra Modi.^[27]

However in February 2011, the Times of India reported that a confidential report from the SIT indicted Modi on several counts of alleged complicity in the Gujarat riots of 2002.^[28] Most other sources have noted that the SIT report does not indict Modi for the riots due to lack of evidence.^[29][30] The Indian Express too said the report did not find any Modi involvement in the violence, though it did accuse him of watering down the seriousness of the situation.^[31] According to the Hindu, the report not only found that Modi tried to water down the seriousness of the situation, but Modi also implicitly justified the killings of Muslims, and failed to condemn the attacks on them.^[32] The Bharatiya Janata Party demanded an investigation into the publication of the report, claiming the leak was politically motivated.^[33]

The apex court refused to pass any order on the case and referred it to the Ahmedabad magistrate for a decision.^[34] In April 2012, a Special Investigation Team found absolved Modi of any involvement in the Gulberg massacre, arguably the worst episode of the riots.^[35]. On 7 May 2012, a Supreme Court-appointed amicus curiae, Raju Ramachandran observed that Modi can be prosecuted under sections 153 A (1) (a) & (b), 153 B (1), 166 and 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code for promoting enmity among different groups during the 2002 Gujarat riots.^[36]. However the amicus report has been criticised by the Special Investigation Team for relying heavily on the testimony of a perjurer^[37].

2007 elections[link]

Modi made a speech at Mangrol in which he justified the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, During the election campaign In response to Sonia Gandhi's speech calling him a "merchant of death",^[38] and referred to Sohrabuddin's killing. For this speech the Election Commission of India, a constitutional body governing election proceedings in India, cautioned Modi as it considered it as indulging in an activity which may aggravate existing differences between different communities.^[39] Modi won the election and continued his post as the Chief Minister Of Gujarat, he won with majority of votes of 122 seats out of 182 total assembly seats.^[40]

Conflicts with Governor Kamla Beniwal[link]

On 25 August 2011 Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal appointed Justice R A Mehta to the post of Lokyukta of Gujarat, a critical anti-corruption post that had been lying vacant since 2003. Justice R A Mehta was recommended for the post by the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court in June. Since Governor Beniwal had made this decision without consulting and getting the approval of the chief minister and his council of ministers, the action angered Narendra Modi and his BJP party.^[41]

This marked the beginning of a strained relationship between Modi and the Governor. On 25 September 2011, Narendra Modi accused the Governor of running a parallel government in the state supported by the Congress. He demanded that she be recalled back.^[42] He also later accused her of delaying the progress of bills by not passing them.

The decision of the governor in the appointment of R A Mehta was challenged in the high court by the Modi government. The two member high court bench gave a split verdict on 10 October 2011. Later, a third member upheld the governor's decision in January 2012.^[43]

Foreign visits[link]

As the Chief Minister of the Gujarat State, to attract foreign investment in the state, Narendra Modi has made visits to foreign countries, including China and Singapore.

Narendra Modi made his first China visit in 2007 to invite investors Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit,^[44] and second visit in November 2011. One month after the second visit to China, the Chinese Government released 13 Diamond traders from India jailed by the Shenzhen Customs, which the Chief Minister described as the consequece of his diplomatic efforts and statesmanship.^[45]

In 2005 Narendra Modi was denied of diplomatic visa to the United States, in addition to this visa denial, he was also revoked from his already granted B-1/B-2 visa.^[46]

Sadbhavna Mission[link]

In the late 2011-early 2012 Narandra Modi practised a series of fasts in the name of Sadbhavna Mission. The mission started on 17 September 2011 in Ahmedabad with 3 day fast with a view to strengthen the atmosphere of peace, unity and harmony in the state. He observed total 36 fasts in 26 districts, 8 cities including Ahmedabad.^[47]

Views and opinions[link]

Modi's position on terrorism[link]

On 18 July 2006 Modi delivered a speech criticising Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "for his reluctance to revive anti-terror legislations" like the Prevention of Terrorism Act. He asked the Centre to empower states to invoke tougher laws in the wake of the blasts in Mumbai.^[48] Quoting Modi:

Narendra Modi has frequently commented that if the BJP came to power at the Centre, they will honour the 2004 Supreme Court judgement to hang Afzal Guru.^[49] Afzal was convicted of terrorism in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack in 2004 by the Supreme Court of India and is in Tihar Jail.^[50]

On account of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, on Thursday 27 November, Narendra Modi held a meeting to discuss waterfront security along the coastline.^[51] The meeting decided to ask the Central government to urgently sanction the following:

• Increase the number of police stations along the coast to 50 (from 10)
• Increase the number of police to 1500 from 250
• 30 modern high-speed surveillance boats.

The 30 coastal boats, under construction at Goa's shipbuilding yard, will have the capacity to run at the speed of 25 nautical miles per hour. These are being manufactured under the Centre's Rs 58-crore grant for coastal security.^[51]

Views on criticism of Modi's governance[link]

In 2003, when Narendra Modi was asked about the conflict of his dreams for Gujarat's future with international criticism of his past activities, Modi said,^[52]

Modi's decision to link Gujarat's violence with the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US drew criticism from some observers, who contrasted it with the then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani's unpleasant apology for Gujarat in London a year ago.^[52] Modi responded to this criticism by The Guardian,^[52]

See also[link]

• Chief Minister
• Gujarat
• Bhartiya Janata Party

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Narendra Modi

Official

• @narendramodi Official & verified Twitter Account
• Narendra Modi Official website
• Narendra Modi Personal blog

Other

• Profile at BBC News