• A leader tempered and toughened by setbacks
• An unrivalled genius in the art of election management
• Possessing strategic expertise honed alongside Modi in their home state of Gujarat
• A committed leader who strove relentlessly, every single moment, to bring the party to power at the Centre
• A most trusted and loyal confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
• A leader who rose to an indomitable stature, even after being exiled from Gujarat due to political vendetta
• Shah utilized his time away from Gujarat to cultivate a deep understanding of Uttar Pradesh
• Consequently, the BJP achieved a resounding victory in Uttar Pradesh
• Played a pivotal role in the abrogation of Article 370
• Actively engaged in the task of cleansing the political system of the impurities accumulated during the Congress era
Amit Anilchandra Shah, who represents the Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency in Gujarat in the Lok Sabha, has been serving as the country’s 32nd Home Minister since 2019. Furthermore, since July 2021, he has also served as the nation’s first Minister of Cooperation. From 2014 to 2020, he served as the 10th National President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Additionally, he has continued to serve as the Chairman of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) since 2014. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha during the period between 2017 and 2019. He is not only the BJP’s chief strategist but also a very close associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was elected to the Gujarat Legislative Assembly from the Sarkhej constituency between 1997 and 2012, and subsequently from the Naranpura seat between 2012 and 2017. From 2002 to 2012, he served as the Minister of State for Home, Law and Judiciary, Prisons, Border Security, Civil Defence, Excise, Home Guards, Transport, Prohibition Enforcement, Village Defence Force, Police Housing, and Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs in the cabinet of the then Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. During his student days, he was an active member of the ABVP. Having risen to a prominent position within the ABVP by the age of 18, he joined the BJP in 1987. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he was appointed as the BJP’s ‘in-charge’ for the state of Uttar Pradesh—a region considered the most politically crucial in the country. In these elections, the BJP achieved a resounding victory by winning 73 out of the total 80 seats, a feat that stood as a testament to Amit Shah’s strategic acumen. Following this success, he was appointed as the party’s National President. Although he steered the party to victory in the elections held in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, and Assam during his first two years in office, the party failed to come to power in Delhi and Bihar in the elections held in 2015. In the 2017 Assembly elections, he successfully led the party to power in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, and Manipur. However, in the Punjab elections held that same year, the Akali Dal–BJP alliance lost power. In the 2018 Assembly elections, the party suffered defeats in the states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, thereby being relegated to the position of the opposition.
Amit Shah was born on October 22, 1964, in Mumbai, into a Gujarati Hindu Baniya family. His great-grandfather served as the Nagar Shreshti (chief merchant) of the town of Mansa. Currently, Mansa is a municipality located in the Gandhinagar district; however, in those days, it existed as the Mansa princely state. Mansa was a prominent town within this princely state, which was ruled by the Rajputs. Amit Shah’s father was a businessman hailing from the town of Mansa; he owned a business dealing in PVC pipes. The town of Mansa was also referred to as Mehsana. It was here that Amit Shah completed his school education; subsequently, in Ahmedabad, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the C.U. Shah Science College and assisted his father in his business. Later, he worked as a stockbroker and served in cooperative banks. Amit Shah’s wife is named Sonal Shah. The couple has a son named Jay Shah. Amit Shah has six sisters, two of whom currently reside in Chicago. On June 8, 2010, Amit Shah’s mother passed away following an illness.
From his childhood, he actively participated in the activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Even at a very young age, he regularly and actively attended Shakha (branch) programs held in his neighborhood. During his days as a degree student in Ahmedabad, in 1982, he became an RSS Swayamsevak (volunteer). At that time, the current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, was serving as an RSS Pracharak (full-time worker) in the city, in charge of youth activities. From that point on, Narendra Modi became well-acquainted with him. Subsequently, acting on Modi’s suggestion, he joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)—the student wing of the RSS—in 1983. Eventually, in 1987, he formally took up membership in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Interestingly, it is noteworthy that Narendra Modi himself joined the BJP just one year after he did. Later, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM)—the youth wing of the BJP—as a grassroots worker. Rising through the organizational hierarchy of the BJYM, he progressed from the Taluka (block) level all the way to the state level, eventually attaining the ranks of General Secretary and Vice President. His exceptional skills in poll management exposed during the 1991 Lok Sabha elections, when senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani contested the polls.
In 1995, the BJP formed a government in Gujarat for the very first time, with Keshubhai Patel assuming the office of Chief Minister. At that juncture, the rural areas of Gujarat were considered an impregnable stronghold for the Congress party. To dismantle this dominance, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah devised a strategic plan: they encouraged influential second-tier leaders in every village to join the BJP. Through this approach, they successfully established a network comprising 8,000 highly influential rural leaders. Adopting this very strategy, he built strong leadership within the state’s cooperative societies as well. In 1999, Amit Shah was elected as the Chairman of the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank—the largest of its kind in the country. He transformed the bank, which was operating at a loss of ₹36 crores at the time, into a profit-making entity earning ₹27 crores within a mere one-year span. By 2014, the bank’s profits had soared to approximately ₹250 crores. In 2009, Amit Shah became the Vice-President of the Gujarat Cricket Association, while Modi served as its President. After Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, Shah assumed the presidency of the organization.
Around 1990, during the time when Modi served as the General Secretary of the party’s state unit, he exerted a profound influence on Amit Shah. Modi persuaded Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel to appoint Shah as the Chairman of the Gujarat State Financial Corporation. Subsequently, however, party leaders—such as Shankersinh Vaghela—complained to the central leadership that Modi was interfering excessively in government affairs; consequently, he was summoned to Delhi. During the period from 1995 to 2001, while Modi was working in Delhi, Shah served as his most trusted confidant in Gujarat. In 1997, through his lobbying efforts, Modi secured an election ticket for Shah to contest the by-election for the Sarkhej Assembly constituency in Gujarat. Shah won this election, thereby entering the Legislative Assembly for the first time. He successfully retained this seat in the subsequent elections held in 1998.
Facing the stigma of ineffective leadership, the party’s central command removed Keshubhai Patel from the post of Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001 and appointed Narendra Modi in his place. In the years that followed, the Modi-Shah duo systematically eliminated their political rivals. During the 12 years that Modi served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Amit Shah emerged as the most powerful leader in the state. Shah gained recognition as the youngest individual to hold multiple ministerial portfolios within the Modi administration. Notably, at one point, he managed as many as 12 portfolios simultaneously. Shah played a pivotal role in ensuring that the Modi government introduced the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Bill. Following the enactment of this bill, religious conversions within the state were effectively curbed. In July 2010, he was arrested in connection with the Sohrabuddin encounter case. By that time, he had risen to the stature of a formidable contender for the Chief Minister’s post. It must be said that this arrest dealt a severe blow to his political career. Three months after his arrest—on October 29, 2010—the High Court granted him bail. The very next day, Justice Aftab Alam entertained a petition and ordered Amit Shah’s externment from Gujarat. Consequently, between 2010 and 2012, Amit Shah was compelled to remain outside Gujarat. During this two-year period, he lived with his wife in a room at the Gujarat Bhavan in Delhi. Finally, in September 2012, the Supreme Court granted him bail, paving the way for his return to Gujarat. That same year, he contested and won the election from the Naranpura Assembly constituency. By then, the Sarkhej constituency had been abolished due to delimitation. In 2014, he was exonerated from the Sohrabuddin encounter case after a CBI court delivered a verdict clarifying that there was no evidence to suggest his involvement.
Following Modi’s rise to the Prime Ministership, Amit Shah garnered immense fame and recognition in national politics. In particular, his expertise in “poll management” during elections earned him the moniker of the “Modern-day Chanakya.” Under his tenure as the party’s National President, the BJP crossed the milestone of 100 million memberships. His strategic acumen played a pivotal role in the BJP’s victory in the 2019 general elections. Out of a total of 543 Lok Sabha constituencies, he personally campaigned in 312! He conducted a total of 18 roadshows, 161 public rallies, and 1,500 BJP meetings. As the Home Minister, he successfully introduced and secured the passage of several key bills in both Houses of Parliament—including the abrogation of Article 370 (which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir), the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of 2019, and the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Bill of 2022. In a sense, Amit Shah is indeed the “Modern-day Chanakya” who turned the seemingly impossible into reality!
