[For Mr. Modi and
his supporters, the visit, which includes a speech before the United Nations
General Assembly and a meeting with President Obama, is also a moment to
connect with members of the broad Indian diaspora in the United States, many of
whom watched with embarrassment from afar as India’s economic engine sputtered
and corruption scandals plagued Mr. Modi’s rivals in the Indian National
Congress party, which has governed India for most of its
postcolonial history. ]
By Shreeya
Sinha
 |
| Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday. Todd Heisler/The New York Times |
The Indians who draw crowds of adoring
fans are usually tall and sultry, with washboard abs and elaborate outfits,
Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan — described by some as the Brad Pitt of
India — or Priyanka Chopra, the
bombshell actress, singer and model.
But this time it
is a teetotaler and bachelor who has boasted of his 56-inch chest and wears a
simple cotton shirt.
Narendra Modi,
India’s new prime minister, will receive a rally fit for a rock star at Madison
Square Garden on Sunday. His rags-to-riches story mirrors the rise of Gujarat, the
Indian state that he governed and that gave him and his Bharatiya Janata Party
a landslide victory in India’s general election in May. His new profile has
also allowed him to return to the United States for the first time in more than
two decades; the State Department had revoked his visa in 2005 over his alleged
role in deadly religious riots in Gujarat
three years earlier.
For Mr. Modi and
his supporters, the visit, which includes a speech before the United Nations
General Assembly and a meeting with President Obama, is also a moment to
connect with members of the broad Indian diaspora in the United States, many of
whom watched with embarrassment from afar as India’s economic engine sputtered
and corruption scandals plagued Mr. Modi’s rivals in the Indian National
Congress party, which has governed India for most of its
postcolonial history.
“Prime Minister
Modi’s message will be refreshing — what role Indian-Americans can play
promoting a relationship between two great stories,” said Dr. Bharat Barai, a
longtime friend of Mr. Modi’s who helped arrange his visit.
Many Indians in
the United States see Mr. Modi as India’s savior: a strong leader who has
pledged to cut through red tape, stamp out corruption, revive India’s economy
and restore pride.
Of the more than
1,700 Indians living in the United States who responded to a New York Times
questionnaire, a majority expressed excitement and hope about Mr. Modi’s visit,
saying they expected him to resurrect the narrative of India as a rising global
power and strengthen relations between the two countries.
“Modi’s trip will
jump-start the process of restoring respect and admiration for Indian
civilization,” wrote one respondent, Sant Gupta, 66, of Virginia.
Tapping into a
level of interest they never expected, Dr. Barai and the grouporganizing the $1.5 million event, the Indian
American Community Foundation, have mobilized more than 400 organizations and
individuals. Bollywood stars offered their talents, but organizers wanted to
keep the focus on Indian-Americans. The hosts will be last year’s Miss America
winner, Nina Davuluri,
and a PBS anchor, Hari Sreenivasan. Anjali Ranadivé, the daughter of Vivek
Ranadivé, owner of the Sacramento Kings basketball team, will sing the American
national anthem, while L. Subramaniam, a
violinist, and Kavita Krishnamurthy, a classical singer, will perform the
Indian anthem.
The prime
minister’s office told Dr. Barai and the other organizers, “Just don’t have a
Bollywood night there.”
The event will
include an acrobatic and laser show, a speed-painted portrait of Mr. Modi and a
hologram re-creating the seminal speech of Mr. Modi’s guru, Swami Vivekananda, who
became the ambassador of Hinduism to the United States when he spoke at the
World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893. Mr. Modi was honoring him when he
visited the United States in 1993, and Dr. Barai recalled how embarrassed Mr.
Modi was by his meager possessions during that visit. “I know you only do
laundry in America once a week,” Mr. Modi said. “But I only have two pairs of
clothes.” Now, his shirts are a fashion symbol.
“It’s also milestone for us as a community,”
said Anand Shah, a spokesman for the organizers.
Only about half of
the 30,000 people who applied for free tickets will get to see Mr. Modi. Free
lunches will be provided around the corner for guests, though Mr. Modi himself
will be observing a nine-day religious fast. A majority of those attending are
from the Northeast.
“I am die-hard fan
of Narendra Modiji and have been following him since last 12 years,” a software
engineer from Atlanta wrote in an email to Dr. Barai, using a term of respect
for the prime minister. He said he had bought a plane ticket to New York before
learning that he had not got a ticket to the Modi event.
The Indian
diaspora is as complex as India itself: a kaleidoscope of religious and ethnic
groups, a growing middle class, skilled laborers, poor migrants and pockets of
the wealthy elite. The Indian government estimates the diaspora, including
immigrants and their descendants, at 20 million, with large concentrations in
22 countries.
India has the
largest number of people living outside its borders of any nation, according to
the Pew Research
Center. Indian-Americans make up the third-largest
Asian-American group in the United States, and lead these
groups in terms of income and education.
“India has defense
and economic ties with other countries,” said Tanvi Madan, director of the India
Project at the Brookings Institution, but the large number of
Indians living in the United States “is what makes the relationship different.”
By the mid-1990s,
the Indian community in the United States was fairly large and rich, made up of
skilled migrants of the 1960s and '70s and young men seeking higher education
in the mid-1980s, according to Ashutosh Varshney, a political scientist at
Brown University.
“This diaspora was
embarrassed about India’s poverty and economic performance,” he said. “There’s
a diasporic desire to see India economically rise again, which also drives the
fascination with Mr. Modi.”
After India’s
economy was overhauled in the 1990s, its technology sector began to boom and it
began approaching China’s double-digit growth rates. But the global downturn of
2008-09 laid bare its chronic problems,
including antiquated infrastructure, wasteful spending and rising food prices.
“The trip provides
a great opportunity to resurrect the India growth story in the West,”
Soumyadeep Ghosh, a computer scientist from Princeton, wrote in his response to
the Times questionnaire. “Something that would lead to better opportunities for
India and its people.”
Respondents to The
Times also raised concerns about resurfacing tensions with Pakistan and China’s growing might.
Some also said they felt a greater connection to India because of Mr. Modi‘s
election. A. Chaturvedi, 23, of Chicago wrote that it “has renewed my pride in
being Indian and made me consider moving back home once again.”
Had Mr. Modi not
been elected, it is unlikely that he would be able to even set foot in America.
Many Western countries besides the United States revoked his visas over his
handling of the 2002
Hindu-Muslim riots, which left more than 1,000 people dead,
most of them Muslims. A United States federal court issued a summons on
Thursday in a lawsuit over the riots, but it is not likely to affect Mr. Modi’s
visit, as he enjoys immunity as a head of government.
Mr. Modi, a Hindu
nationalist, has been a divisive figure in India, and although he has not made
inflammatory statements since his election, some respondents raised concerns
about his religious tolerance.
Zahir Janmohamed,
who was among those who worked to deny Mr.
Modi a visa, said, “Questions about Modi’s failure to protect his
own citizens are still relevant.”
And Kayhan Irank
of Jackson Heights, Queens, said Mr. Modi’s ascendance “definitely strains my
relationships with some elders and relatives who are less interested in justice
for those who were killed and displaced over the facade of India as a major
economic player.”
