An Indian rockstar at Madison Square

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took Manhattan by storm with a mega show on Sunday comprising laser lights and holographic images, pomp and promise, colour and spectacle. Indian mediapersons attending in full force, did not tire of telling us back home that his address to the Indian diaspora at Madison Square Garden, was like a rock concert. And Modi himself was received like a rockstar amid shouts of “Vande Mataram”, “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and chanting of his name.

Dressed in colourful Indian attire, carrying the Indian tiranga , and some armed with dholaks, thousands of enthusiastic Indian-Americans turned up to give their hero a rousing welcome. Modi the master showman has carefully crafted his US tour to encompass many crucial elements.

First and foremost is the restoration of pride in India and being Indian. As during his visits to other countries, such as Japan, the strong focus in Modi’s speeches is to invite the entire world to engage with India.

The clever subtext, of course, in hailing this as Asia’s century, is to tell the western world that India, along with other Asian leaders such as Japan and China, is getting ready to take its rightful place in the world, and the hegemony of the western powers is over.

A masterstroke is Modi’s constant bid to remind his Indian-American audience that they should be proud to be Indians, and gently nudge them to be a part of India’s development. But he is doing this without holding out a begging bowl. Instead, he is showering them with incentives such as lifelong visa for PIO cardholders.

For instance, at the dinner for 700 influential NRIs and friends of India in the US government at the Taj group’s Pierre Hotel, the Prime Minister clearly told the rich and influential Indian-Americans that India did not need their dollars.

Rather, he added in the next breath, India needed each of them to influence five of their non-Indian American friends to visit India. This would bolster India’s tourism industry, putting the much required money into the hands of taxi drivers, hotel employees and even chaiwalas!

“Terrorism divides, tourism unites” might sound like the cliché it really is, but Modi’s speeches at various points in the US have been packed with simple points that go straight to the heart — such as how tourism can change the lives of small people. All along, he has not tired of declaring how he is a “small person” with a “small vision”, “a chaiwala”, and so on!

And then, at the dinner event, as reported by The Hindu , after he was introduced to the gathering by the Indian Ambassador, S Jaishankar, he delivered a short speech and stood on “the stage for over an hour to personally greet every single attendee in the room”.

Most often, what you do speaks much more than what you say, and this exemplifies what Modi has mastered: in this case, showcasing the Indian ethos of respect for guests.

Also, the Prime Minister has bowled over the Indian diaspora by making frequent references to India’s IT capability. What better audience could he have had than Indian techies in the US to narrate the “mouse charmers” anecdote?

Apparently, well before he was even chief minister of Gujarat, when he was on a visit to Taiwan he was asked about India being a land of snake charmers. With a straight face, Modi recounted to a doting audience his response to that question: India had degenerated further, he had said — from a land of snake charmers to one of mouse charmers. Indian youngsters were now playing with the mouse. Expectedly, this was lapped up with loud cheers and applause.

Then, of course, there was the recounting of his government’s achievements in the short period it had been in power, with particular emphasis on the recent successful mission to Mars: it took us only ₹7 per km to reach Mars, he said!

But even while revisiting this grandiose achievement, Modi was careful to quickly change track and talk about his dream of meeting the aspirations of “every Indian”. By 2022, the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence, every Indian should have a home of his own, he said.

In all, it is a masterly package that Modi is delivering in the US, seemingly unmindful of the shadows that preceded this visit, as a consequence of which he had been denied a US visa for many years.

The entire show in New York recalls the CII’s grand India@60 show in 2007 to mark 60 years of Independence. Incredible India posters, banners and slogans greeted you at the most iconic spots in New York. Stories and themes of the emerging and awakening Indian giant greeted you everywhere — from Times Square to city buses, Nasdaq streamers to huge banners, on streetlights and at bus stops, and, best of all, back-to-back Bollywood song and dance extravaganzas at Bryant Park.

The economic recession had not yet set in, UPA I was providing a decent impetus to the growing Indian economy, and at the plethora of events and meetings held to mark the event, CEOs of global companies jostled with one another.

Many of them openly said that it would be financial suicide for global majors not to be invested in India with its huge and growing middle-class. And then the recession came and India fell off the radar.

But now, after the new government has come in, hopes and aspirations for a resurgent India are being rekindled. Modi has promised to deliver an India of their dreams to all Indians, and has invited the Indian-American community to participate in this development.

Gandhiji is also adequately mentioned in his speeches. “Mahatma Gandhi made the freedom struggle a mass movement. Every Indian felt that yes, I am also a part of the freedom struggle”. So on his 150th birth anniversary next year, let us deliver to him a swachha Bharat, says Modi.

Hopefully this is a strong signal to NRIs, not only from the US, but other developed countries as well, who, when they visit India, usually turn up their noses at the stench and the dirt!

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