Narendra Modi "very good" and "good". In early 2017, a survey from Pew Research Center showed Modi to be the most popular figure in Indian politics. However he is seen to be losing some approval in 2018 to his oppositon leader Rahul Gandhi. Modi was named the Best Chief Minister in a 2007 nationwide survey by "India Today". In March 2012, he appeared on the cover of the Asian edition of "Time Magazine", one of the few Indian politicians to have done so. He was awarded Indian of the Year by "CNN-IBN" news network in 2014. In 2014, 2015 and 2017, he
Premiership of Narendra Modi government, including the Home Minister, have defended the attempts. There were additional incidents of violence targeted at religious minorities by Hindu nationalists. Modi refused to remove a government minister from her position after a popular outcry resulted from her referring to religious minorities as "bastards." Commentators have suggested, however, that the violence was perpetrated by radical Hindu nationalists to undercut the authority of Modi. The Modi administration appointed Yellapragada Sudershan Rao, who had previously been associated with the RSS, chairperson of the Indian Council of Historical Research. In reaction to his appointment, other historians and former members of the ICHR,