Impressed he must be
1 min read . Updated: 09 Mar 2023, 11:21 PM IST
PremiumOn Thursday, Indian PM Narendra Modi and his visiting Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese did a lap of honour on a chariot at the Narendra Modi stadium (earlier called Motera stadium) in Ahmedabad ahead of the fourth cricket Test between the two countries as part of the Border-Gavaskar series
On Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his visiting Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese did a lap of honour on a chariot at the Narendra Modi stadium (earlier called Motera stadium) in Ahmedabad ahead of the fourth cricket Test between the two countries as part of the Border-Gavaskar series. There was a celebratory air as the two went about to the claps and cheers of thousands gathered. There was much waving, hand-holding and the like, as the occasion was meant to celebrate 75 years of India’s friendship with Australia, a relationship that has been heavily defined by cricket, which lends itself to this sort of diplomatic spectacle. But it also sparked off fireworks between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition Congress. The latter called it the “height of self-obsession" for Modi to do a lap in a stadium named after him in his “own lifetime". A valid answer to this is that what works for diplomacy works for India. Even Donald Trump was visibly struck with wonder at the size of Ahmedabad’s audience that showed up for his joint appearance with Modi. Australians might be even easier to impress with crowds, given how deprived they are of these.