4.2 • 721 Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2024
⏱️ 5 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Narendra Modi may well be the most popular politician on the planet. India’s prime minister is eyeing a third term atop the world’s biggest democracy.
A tea-seller’s son, Mr Modi began life an outsider. The man behind the political phenomenon remains hard to fathom. India has become an economic powerhouse during his ten years in charge. But he’s also the frontman for a chauvinistic Hindu nationalist dogma.
Can Mr Modi continue to balance both parts of his agenda and finish the job of turning India into a superpower? The Economist’s Avantika Chilkoti finds out what makes him tick.
Launching June 2024.
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0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Ivanka Chilkoti, a foreign correspondent at The Economist. |
0:06.0 | I started out in journalism just over a decade ago, in Mumbai. |
0:12.0 | There was one big story in India back then. |
0:15.0 | The landslide election of a new kind of leader, Narendra Modi. Ten years on, the big question in my mind, |
0:25.1 | and in the minds of anyone interested in India, is still the same. Who is Narendra Modi really? |
0:44.6 | Travel around India and Maudi is everywhere, on billboards, on TV, at the cricket, but he's also elusive. |
0:46.4 | The Prime Minister doesn't do press conferences. |
0:49.7 | As the leader of the world's biggest democracy, Modi has proven to be a strong man with a dangerous streak of authoritarianism. |
0:57.0 | He rarely gives unscripted interviews. |
1:00.0 | So to tell a story, I've tried to find those closest to him. |
1:05.0 | Modi had only 122 inch suitcase. |
1:09.0 | So, a very simple man. |
1:12.6 | Parad Barai is an Indian American oncologist who hosted Modi on one of his first visits to America. |
1:20.6 | He calls Modi a friend. |
1:23.6 | Ahi! |
1:24.6 | Modi! |
1:25.6 | After Modi was elected Prime Minister, Parad Parayi helped organize a rally in America. |
1:32.3 | 18,000 Modi supporters filled Madison Square Garden in New York. |
1:39.3 | The 21st century, one says Asia's city, one say Asia's city and |
1:45.0 | some say |
1:46.2 | India |
1:46.8 | India |
... |
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