Ahmedabad: From a backroom strategist to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s top 'hindutva' icon and Chief Minister of Gujarat, it has been a meteoric rise for Narendra Modi in just three years since he came to the frontline of party leadership.

Just three years ago, Modi became a BJP national general secretary with his main job being a backroom strategist and later the party's most visible face for the media as a spokesman till he became Chief Minister 13 months ago.

Modi positioned himself as the most aggressive crusader of Hindutva much before elections were announced. His passionate championing of the cause of Hindutva, often bordering on what his critics allege venom, paid off handsomely for BJP in the just- concluded Assembly elections.

Almost single-handedly, he led the party's bid to retain power in a state whose poll outcome was viewed as the prelude to the shape of national politics in months and years to come.

Unmindful of severe attack from critics at home and abroad, Modi stuck to his gun despite words of caution even from senior party leaders including Atal Behari Vajpayee.

His personal appeal and crowd-pulling during gaurav yatra in post-Godhra Gujarat earned him the sobriquet of "chhote sardar" and had even Vajpayee appear in the campaign as his advocate holding brief for him.

Modi was never apologetic about taking on "pseudo-secularists" and giving a tongue- lashing to Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf. In fact, he gave the menace of terrorism a new dimension in the wake of terrorist attack on Akshardham temple by successfully pleading that a victory for Congress would please Islamabad the most.

Born at Vadnagar in Mehsana district in September 1950, Modi obtained a Masters Degree in Political Science. He made his mark as a firebrand youth leader when Jaiprakash Narayan launched his anti-corruption movement known as "Navnirman Andolan" in 1974.

In the following year, he became the general secretary of Lok Sangarsh Samiti in Gujarat, which was formed to wage a struggle against the Emergency regime of Indira Gandhi.

A 'sangh pracharak', Modi is among a select band of individuals who were nominated to BJP by the 'sangh'. He became a general secretary of BJP's state unit in 1988 and won a number of elections from panchayat to Lok Sabha.

The big break for Modi came in 1996 when he became national general secretary of the party and showed his organisational skill by looking after its affairs in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

He was also given charge of election campaign in Madhya Pradesh.

Modi assumed reins of government in Gujarat at a time when BJP in the state was afflicted by intense internal bickering. He replaced senior BJP leader Keshubhai Patel as Chief Minister in the wake of criticism over mishandling of relief and rehabilitation after the devastating earthquake of January 26, 2000.

As he sought to gear up the administrative machinery to set things right, he was faced with another challenge in the Godhra massacre on February 27.

Modi was accused by many, both within and outside the country, of complicity in the riots that followed and being biased but he responded by saying it was an unnecessary hue and cry over violence that was a reaction to the Godhra carnage and had hardly affected two per cent people of the state.

PTI