For the last decade, the ruling BJP’s propaganda messaging has projected India as a “Vishwaguru,” a fount of global wisdom. The BJP’s publicity machine has worked overtime to create the illusion that India only arrived on the world stage with the advent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Never mind the colossal international stature of Jawaharlal Nehru or the dominating presence of Indira Gandhi; for the Sangh Parivar faithful, it is Modi who has ensured that India burst into the global limelight.
Well-marketed events like the ‘Howdy Modi’ show in Houston in 2019, or media visuals of Modi being feted by an adoring Indian diaspora contributed to the image. So did Modi’s role as the ‘Covid saviour’ and ‘vaccine guru’ who sent vaccines to countries in need. Modi sitting on a swing with China’s President Xi Jinping on the banks of the Sabarmati in 2014, or Modi hugging both Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Vlodymyr Zelenskyy—as if he was bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to an end—were all used to pump up the volume on an expertly mounted advertising campaign of Modi as a white-bearded global sage.
