Once shunned and now eagerly courted by the West, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stood by Donald Trump’s side at a huge rally and also been lauded by the US president as a “total killer”.
Modi’s political ascent was marred by allegations of his culpability in India’s worst religious riots this century, and his tenure has dovetailed with rising hostility towards Muslims and other minorities.
Supporters revere Modi’s tough-guy persona, burnished by his image as a steward of India’s Hindu majority faith and myth-making that played up his modest roots.
“They dislike me because of my humble origins,” he said in rallies ahead of 2019 elections, lambasting his opponents.
“Yes, a person belonging to a poor family has become prime minister. They do not fail to hide their contempt for this fact.”
Modi was born in 1950 in the western state of Gujarat, the third of six children whose father sold tea at a railway station.
He was an average student but his gift for rousing oratory was first seen as a keen member of a school debate club and his participation in theatrical performances.
The seeds of his political destiny were sown at the age of eight when he joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a hardline nationalist group.
Modi dedicated himself to its cause of promoting Hindu supremacy in constitutionally secular India, even walking out of his arranged marriage soon after his wedding at the age of 18.
Remaining with his wife — whom he never officially divorced — would have hampered his advancement through the ranks of the RSS, which expected senior cadres to stay celibate.
– Deadly riots –
The RSS groomed Modi for a career in its political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which grew into a major force through the 1990s.
He was appointed chief minister of Gujarat in 2001 but the state was rocked by sectarian riots the following year, sparked by a fire that killed dozens of Hindu pilgrims.
At least 1,000 people were killed in the ensuing violence, most of the victims Muslims.
Modi was accused of both helping stir up the unrest and failing to order a police intervention.
He later told a BBC reporter that his main weakness in responding to the riots was not knowing “how to handle the media”.
A probe by India’s top court eventually said there was no evidence to prosecute Modi, but the international fallout saw him banned from entering the United States and Britain for years.
However, it was a testament to India’s changing political tides that his popularity only grew at home.
He built a reputation as a leader ready to assert the interests of Hindus, who he contended had been held back by the secularist forces that ruled India almost continuously since independence from Britain.
– ‘Friend of mine’ –
Critics have sounded the alarm over a spate of prosecutions directed at Modi’s political rivals and the taming of a once-vibrant press.
India’s Muslim community of more than 200 million people is also increasingly anxious about its future.
Modi’s rise to the premiership was followed by a spate of lynchings targeting Muslims for the slaughter of cows, a sacred animal in the Hindu tradition.
But Western democracies have sidestepped rights concerns in the hopes of cultivating a regional ally that can help check China’s assertiveness.
He has taken credit for India’s rising diplomatic and economic clout, claiming that the country has become a “vishwaguru” — a teacher to the world — under his watch.
He is now looking to rekindle his cosy friendship with Trump when he meets the US president at the White House on Thursday.
Modi assiduously courted Trump during his first term and the two share much in common.
Both campaigned on promises to promote the interests of their countries’ majority communities over minorities and both pursue critics doggedly.
The pair heaped praise on each other in a joint appearance at a stadium in Houston in 2019, touting a close, personal alliance in front of tens of thousands of Indian-Americans.
Some 50,000 people attended the event — dubbed “Howdy, Modi!” — and it was billed as the largest gathering by a foreign leader in the United States other than the pope.
The following year Modi invited Trump before a cheering crowd of more than 100,000 people to inaugurate the world’s largest cricket stadium in his home state of Gujarat.
Modi also took Trump and wife Melania on a guided visit of independence hero Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram.
“He’s great. He’s a friend of mine,” Trump told a podcast hosted by stand-up comedian Andrew Schultz last year.
“On the outside he looks like he’s your father. He’s the nicest. Total killer.”
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