He's a very able administrator. He has bought impressive business progress to Gujarat.
However impressive his accomplishment, his PR is even better, beyond (IMO) his actual accomplishments. His FB page, for example, was supposed to be run by a team of 10-15 people (not sure about the exact number) at a time when most other Indian politicians barely knew about the internet. His use of online social marketing to attract Indian youth could well be a classic case study.
He has captured the imagination of the Indian middle classes, the educated, the youth because everyone is frustrated by the current lot of national politicians. Huge corruption, social disorder, poverty, the arrogance of our leaders - India has reached a stage when these are not to be tolerated any more. So many of us have traveled abroad, or has relatives living abroad that we know that there has to be a better way.
Unfortunately there are few viable alternatives in Indian politics. National leaders are inane, incompetent, nepotist, spineless. The ones who are good are just not popular enough or have a realistic mass base (Kejriwal). So we have good leaders without mass support, and bad leaders who have a political base. Modi seems to be a 'good' leader with a mass base for many Indians, so he seems to be the best of a bad lot.
It seems like I have written a letter of support for Modi.
Let me tell you why I will not vote for him. For me he will always carry the taint of his religious/ fundamentalist past and this is a grave danger to India. Hardening attitudes of the middle classes is disastrous for any country - you only have to look at history.
I will also explain that I apply this to Muslim fundamentalism as well. 'Islam this, Islam that, Islam the other'. 'I'm a Muslim, I want special privileges, but hey when you're in a Muslim country you're not going to get any'. 'Yes Islam is the religion of peace, never that mind Muslims are on the rampage in many parts of the world'.
So I hasten to add that mine is not an 'anti-Hinduvta' attitude. If anything my dislike of Muslims fundamentalism is in fact even greater, and my contempt for Muslim politics in India is even deeper.
But in the end Modi represents a door I don't want my country to open. But it looks like we're going to open it soon enough.