Screaming fans dub India's Modi a 'rock star' in Australia
Modi, who won India's biggest electoral victory in three decades in the April-May polls, was greeted like a pop star on a trip to New York in September and received a similar reception in Sydney, which he is visiting after attending the G20 summit in Brisbane.
"Modi's a rock star!" screamed one supporter as the Indian premier took the stage to a wildly enthusiastic reception.
"This love, this welcome... I give this to the feet of the children of mother India," Modi said, observing that many people were still outside, unable to gain access to the packed venue.
Modi drew cheers from the crowd when he referenced the two nations' shared passion, saying neither "Australia nor India can live without cricket". His speech also covered topics such as Hindu nationalism and Indian independence.
"He is our most charismatic leader and he is going to take our country to the next generation," Sushil Chaddha, an IT consultant who has lived in Australia for three decades, told AFP in stifling heat outside Sydney's Olympic Park.
"We all love him."
Beside Chaddha stood dozens of people wearing "Modi in Australia" T-shirts printed with the Indian leader's face in the style of Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" 2008 election posters.
Others chanted "Modi, Modi, Modi!" as they jumped, sang and danced, with drums and music playing in the background.
Some 20,000 people, mostly from the Indian diaspora in Australia, jammed the stadium, although some had travelled from as far as the United States, Singapore and New Zealand. Reports said there were 25 television crews from India at the event.
Scores of supporters arrived on a train decked out in the country's national colours.
The so-called "Modi Express" saw more than 200 supporters board a train from Melbourne for the 12-hour journey to Sydney, singing and dancing in the carriages ahead of the event.
"After a long, long time, such a phenomenon, such an excitement, such a wave has come, which is unparallelled," one of Modi's supporters on the train, Rakesh Raizada, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"This is a new revolution, you can call it."
There are around 450,000 people of Indian origin in Australia, including many from the student community, and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott will be rolling out the red carpet for Modi in Canberra on Tuesday.
His trip Down Under -- for the G20 summit in Brisbane and a state visit -- comes just two months after Abbott's tour of India, during which the two countries sealed a long-awaited nuclear energy deal.
Relations between India and Australia have been rocky in recent years with tensions flaring over allegedly racist attacks on Indian students in Melbourne, and two-way trade has done nothing but slide.
But the Abbott government sensed an opportunity when the pro-business Modi won the Indian elections in a landslide in May, and is keen to reignite Australian investment in India.
India's foreign ministry described Modi's visit as part of efforts to "re-engage" Australia and its businesses, and he will address parliament in Canberra on Tuesday.
The Indian leader is also set to meet industry leaders and sign several agreements on narcotics control, social security, tourism and cultural cooperation.
While Modi was largely feted, not everyone at the stadium was there to welcome him, with about 100 Sikh protesters lining a street beside the entrance.
"The main message is unity," Karandeep Singh Chadha told AFP.
"PM Modi and his associates are involved in pro-Hindu movements that are trying to squash minorities."
COMMENTS (20)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1732519298-0/BeFunky-collage-(85)1732519298-0-165x106.webp "article")
1732611352-0/lamar-(5)1732611352-0-165x106.webp "article")
1732610018-0/BeFunky-collage-(91)1732610018-0-165x106.webp "article")
@wb
Very well said. We should be more concerned about our under bellies, and there are so many of them.
@Sneha: Oh my! Don't you know, whole world knows now, majority of media sources are grossly infiltrated by Indians now projection & omission will always be pro-India?
@Asim: There are no ordinary Australians Sir, but the Australians!
Rex Minor
@Asim: I suggest you read every Australian newspaper and take your head out of sand.
Please correct the impression your headline is giving here. It was either Indians or Australians of Indian descent. Ordinary Australians did not even know Modi came to Australia.
There is a huge euphoria amongst Indians including those living abroad is that Modi will fulfill all promises made by him. During his address in Australia, Modi never boasted of India's MARS mission, missiles or advancement in information and science technologies but chose to highlight weaknesses which the country faces today. He spoke of doing small things like making toilets, creating job avenues, electricity for all, cleaning India etc. The best part is that he is dead earnest in fulfilling these commitments and some positive results are also showing but Modi has stated that most of them would be completed by 2019.
@wb:
"But there’s another danger here. I hope this adulation doesn’t turn one into a dictator of a sort, supported by cronies at every level."
He is already. Didn't you read about how he ran the government in Gujarat and now what is his style of governance in New Delhi?
@wb: Thank you for the candid admission to which category you belong to.Cant generalise things like this.Being a man travelled around the globe,I have experienced the racism first hand.Of course there are good people and bad people everywhere.Depends on with whom you mingle or choose to encounter on your day to day chores. People in certain parts of Germany close the front doors the moment you pass their front pavement if you are a brown or black guy.Middle eastern guys throw rotten eggs from the villas on people of Indian sub continent.Australian youth bully Indians on the road.you want more?
@Tamil Arasan:
"Out of the 25000 people gathered to greet Indian PM NaMo 100 people came there to show their opposition and that is called democracy and I feel it is totally irrelevant to even report about those 100 turns-ups to show opposition while 25000 warmly greet…!!"
That's nice.
But there's another danger here. I hope this adulation doesn't turn one into a dictator of a sort, supported by cronies at every level.
@Wollstonecraft:
"I had the unfortunate experience of listening to the Prime Minister albeit through an interpreter/translator and whilst India has massive talent, the interpreter was probably the worst I’ve ever heard. "
India may have the computers and technologies of today.
But we still have the mentality of the 1800s.
In case you didn't know Indian government and private undertakings are mired in nepotism, regionalism, elitism and other petty politics.
The translator you mentioned must be from the state of the Secretary under which he is employed. And this employment is clearly not based on merit but biased because he belonged to the state or the caste of his employer.
In case you didn't know and since my fellow cunning Indians will never tell you, we are the most bigoted racist people on the face of the earth.
In the groups of good, bad and ugly, we fall in the last category. We are very ugly people.
@ShearWt!: Overseas Indians back Modi because in Modi, they see a leader who is dedicated, hard working, visionary, competent and not corrupt.
@Wollstonecraft: Agree to that. Indians excel in services industry catering to global companies. They need to learn to do the same in their own institutions. My line of job has something to do with esthetics and usability of web sites. And all the government websites of India feels like it has been developed by a primary school students. Some of them still have blinking texts which kills the seriousness of the site. Presentation is very important sign of development. If India wants to seriously compete with China there is esthetic side to image make over it has to focus too. Anyways I am Indian, just to let my fellow Indians know......so they don't get riled up thinking me as an Australian or Pakistani resorting to India bashing :) And yes please don't question my patriotism by asking me to offer free consulting to government on how to improve their Web Sites. That simply ain't gonna happen.
@ShearWt!: poverty and corruption are far more in pakistan than in india.... and these are just tip of the iceberg.... pakistan has far far serious problem to look after .... there is no field in which pakistan has no problem and there is no field in which pakistan is doing well..... forget shining ..... naya pakistan has been crushed by infighting,injustice ,insecurity and crippling poverty and polio.....
My fellow Indians just watch too much Bollywood, I say! Only the shear weight of poverty & corruption is enough to keep the Hot Air ballon from taking off. You guys have to work on that too.
I had the unfortunate experience of listening to the Prime Minister albeit through an interpreter/translator and whilst India has massive talent, the interpreter was probably the worst I've ever heard. I'm assuming that he/she would have been a part of the ministerial entourage but seriously India should look at employing better, more competent people who act as the face or voice of 1,250,000,000 people which the interpreter kept saying 12,500,000 instead.
@Tamil arasan: Those hundred were too standing among person holding Pakistani flag catch up the video. Doesn't matter, pm is firing up the economy indo-Europe nuke deal by jan next year on his Europe tour.
Thanks to Australia for giving us Nuclear tech, since US is no longer following thru its promises. We can't listen to them to open our markets or crackdown on cyber & intellectual property thefts from overseas.
Out of the 25000 people gathered to greet Indian PM NaMo 100 people came there to show their opposition and that is called democracy and I feel it is totally irrelevant to even report about those 100 turns-ups to show opposition while 25000 warmly greet...!!