It is billed as a grand community reception, and 60,000 Modi supporters – almost all of Indian origin – are expected to crowd into the sports stadium in north London on Friday afternoon.

It will be his first visit to Britain as prime minister and many in the Indian community have been eagerly awaiting this moment.

“People are going mad for Modi, Modi, Modi,” says CB Patel, a London-based publisher and columnist and longstanding supporter of India’s prime minister. “I call it Modimania.”

Wherever Mr Modi goes – and he has spent a lot of time globetrotting in the 18 months he has been in office – he seeks to talk directly to the Indian diaspora.

He has drawn huge crowds at venues ranging from New York’s Madison Square Garden to Dubai’s cricket stadium, as well as many smaller events in places ranging from the Seychelles to Paris.

The gathering at Wembley just a few days after the Hindu religious festival of Diwali is expected to be his biggest yet.

The organisers say they can’t meet the demand for the free tickets.

The cost is being met largely by donations – 10,000 people are said to have contributed – along with businesses that are both supporting the event and paying to advertise.

Not all the 1.5m people of Indian origin living in Britain are cheerleaders for Mr Modi and his Hindu nationalist party, the BJP.

A Modi Not Welcome campaign is organising protests during his visit, complaining of religious intolerance and an autocratic style of government.

Part of his purpose, say these campaigners, is to create a worldwide network of Hindu right-wingers – something they regard as worrying.

But there is broad enthusiasm among the Indian diaspora for Narendra Modi. Here’s why:

  • Modi has actively sought support from Indian communities abroad, and that’s something new; the Indian diaspora are more often made to feel guilty for turning their backs on the home country than embraced for their global influence and success. Even now, any Indian seeking to become a national of another country has to hand back their Indian passport.
  • India’s prime minister has praised the diaspora as part of India’s “soft power” – standing alongside yoga and the Bollywood movie industry in giving the country global prestige and influence. No other Indian leader has spoken so warmly of the achievements of Indians abroad.
  • Indian communities in Western countries are often high-achieving and prominent in business, technology and the professions; they tend to be sympathetic to Modi’s business-friendly policies. “Indians worship money and want to become rich,” says CB Patel, “and Modi’s economic priorities are much admired by Indians abroad.”
  • Gujarati pride is also at play. Modi is from this western state, which makes up just 5% of India’s population but is much more prominent in the diaspora. More than 600,000 people of Gujarati origin live in Britain; along with Punjabis, they constitute the greater part of the Indian-origin population.
  • The BJP’s landslide election victory last year was in part because Modi was seen as representing hope for a revitalised India; the welcome he has received in Western capitals, with Barack Obama personally nominating Modi as one ofTime magazine’s ‘100 Leaders’, is relished by Indians abroad as a sign of India gaining global influence and authority.
  • While the organisers insist that Indians of all religions, regions and backgrounds will be present at Wembley, Modi’s success reflects a Hindu cultural revivalism which is at least as evident, some would say more so, among the diaspora as in India.

The courting of Indians abroad is in part about money. The 30 million Indians living outside the country contribute an estimated $70bn (£45bn) to the economy each year in remittances.

 

source: bbc