Just five months after he took over as Chief Minister, Modi controversially came into limelight in the wake of 2002 riots triggered after 59 'Kar Sewaks' were killed in a fire in a compartment in Sabarmati Express train incident on February 27, 2002.
Modi's detractors accused him of inaction during the riots but all the subsequent investigations, including one directly under the supervision of Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigations Team (SIT) and subsequent court ruling have given a clean chit to the Gujarat Chief Minister.
But Modi mastered the art of converting adversities into opportunities. He did some pioneering work in Gujarat to win subsequent elections in 2007 and 2012 on developmental politics decimating the Congress.
Modi has been claiming credit for bringing the issue of development to centre stage in his efforts to reinvent himself.
After the Supreme Court-appointed SIT gave a clean chit to him in the 2002 riots, Modi undertook a 'Sadbhavna' fast to reach out to Muslims of Gujarat as some kind of penance by going on a three-day fast in Ahmedabad. Similar fasts were also undertaken by him in Gujarat's other cities.
Business leaders had pitched for him as the Prime Minister saying Modi is a decisive leader especially against the backdrop of policy paralysis that marked the UPA II's tenure.
Inspired by life and teachings of Gautam Buddha and Swami Vivekananda, Modi had left his Vadnagar home as a youth and joined the RSS as a pracharak. At a tender age he used to sell tea, first at the railway station of his village where his father had a tea stall and later at the canteen of Ahmedabad city bus terminal.
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