ah, india is often called the world's largest democracy. a sleeping giant, a country seemingly in search of a leader who could strike a balance between tradition and modernity. with nearly 1400000000 inhabitants, india is poised to overtake china as the world's most populous country. and its economy is also in the midst of transformation. the country is modernizing at a breathtaking pace, hoping to reduce social and equality and compete on the international stage. india boasts the world's 2nd largest military. it's geopolitical status as a nuclear power position between china and the west has allowed the country to claim its place among the worlds superpowers. after a century, a british colonial rule, the hondas gandhi, and java harlow nehru, succeeded in securing independence in 1947 by non violent means. following 60 years under the leadership of the nehru, gone to dynasty in 2014 india for the 1st time elected a member of the opposition party, a man from a modest background, the rend ramadi took office promising national renewal with the right wing nationalist is india's new superstar he now has one of the highest number of twitter followers of any politician in the world. movie is she's the largest alive figure he has been consumed in his image making. i'm a self made man. you know, my father used to sell to my mother used to clean house. i'm a lower cost. mum, put me in the prime minister's office. i'll create 20000000 jobs. now render mowdy had a mission. he believed india needed to reclaim it's pure authentic past. and it's vital role in the world with india is good to reclaim ha, history from its glory days when the enormous limbs, when the no british we were all him the, when we were glorious. mowdy seemed like the strong leader that was going to help make india proud to be indians. again, are you. i know 20 object boy got got they do somehow. so got all that bears go broke. are you it is, these are the in the thank you, let me when i heard from just with good a false swell to pull me about the next. what is each on the up? if not more on achieve modi. took center stage in an unprecedented alliance with western states against a common adversary. only now we are forgiving with india because it's a counterweight to china. ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha i for a long time, we saw india as an impoverished nation, a place where the west cent aid on the place of mahatma gandhi, where you learned how to do yoga spiritual place. but it's actually much more than that. it's developed in the last decade into one of the world's super powers, autumn hubbard, the he saw the hama trooper. now, you know, he called himself a jokey on the wood, means a gatekeeper, a protector, a guardian. he is a person of mendez energy, perhaps of best orator in india, that the country is seen in living memory. but when you look at the, the message and the values that he stands for there, frightening india is wielding more power on the world stage than ever before. it's domestic policies have taken an unprecedented nationalist and authoritarian turn. but just who is no rend remedy and how is he helping to shape a new era in india and the world to understand now render modi's influence we accompany him to the town of kit are not in the north of india. the town is wholly in the hindu religion. it's where moti discovered the power of his fate and learn to share it with his followers. above all, mowdy is a devout believer. like 80 per cent of indians, he is a hindu. in there is a country where a large part of the population has some spiritual life to his picking up on that knowledge. but he does it at the scale where it can just be meditation in his house . it has to be up in the himalayas. wood, where the gods live in front of the cameras. modi portrays himself as a holy man, a standard bearer for india, and the world more d, as a guru implies that he is some sort of spiritual leader. now, in that sense, in the range from all the as prime minister teaches, through example his by who e is what he does, what he says, what he eats. when he foss, he is an exemplar of what people should aspire to be, and people are wild by. it. modi goes to great lengths to cultivate an image of spirituality. in 2019, he walked 22 kilometers through the himalayas at nearly 4000 meters above sea. level in the revered cater enough shrine, he spent 17 hours in prayer and meditation. but like the hindu gods, mowdy has many faces. he portrays himself as both spiritual leader and men of action. all the while pursuing a mission articulated by the ideologists of the indian. far right, vin eoc demote ourself, our car in the 1920 s soccer developed an ideology that was born of the same time as the fascist and nazi ideologies in the 1920s. flower gardens wired by mussolini and wandered, soccer wrote in his book he said, died for a muslim for a christian. india is not a holy land notified to learn. so the idea is to create the indian nation in which hindus are supreme and read all minorities are at best 2nd class citizens ah, but ideally, should be removed from the body politic. this is the ideology that prime minister more the believe, said, and has been bottom since his reelection in 2019 modi has put his hindu 1st agenda into action. one of his 1st moves was to send troops to india's cashmere region. the country's only muslim majority territory, which has long been an object of dispute with pakistan. in summer 2019 mowdy launched an extraordinary show of force. he revoked the state of georgia and kashmir as semi autonomous status and imposed a strict curfew. it was a move designed to quash the long simmering conflict at the border to pakistan. one of the most densely militarized places in the world to prevent a popular uprising, modi's administration sent tens of thousands of additional troops to the region and cut off lines of communication. what followed was a purge of opposition. members, primarily muslims, more than 4000 people. political figures activists and intellectuals were arrested . what it has done is to push that whole region off the edge to day. her cousins of people are in jail. all the leaders cream cheese ministers, there is no governess between the po, finishing and jani. there is nothing in august 2019, with the cashmere crisis, still under way, the leading industrialized nations convened and b, or it's france for the g 7 summit. they rolled out the red carpet for the indian prime minister. moti seized the opportunity to furnish the pacifist image. he cultivates on the world stage and demonstrate his trademark bear hug. diplomacy. circuit has his negative negative responses came primarily from china and pakistan that, that's not a surprise. but the west didn't say a word is it's not all. looks he little less fair the west let india do as at least mean as a message was we'll be forgiving with india for commercial reasons. because india is a great market, has sell weapons and more. and now she, dom yamil, acevedo. ah, but understanding modi's rise to power also requires a look back to his background. his childhood and the obstacles. he faced the ren remote. he was born in 1950 and bhatnagar in the indian state of gujarat. india had just gained independence from british colonial rule. thanks, dumont, as gandhi, and jo, a harlow nehru, after centuries of invasion and occupation, india had to reinvent its identity. mowdy was the 3rd of 6 children. his parents who were members of a lower cast were grocer's, young to render use to help his father at work deluge on vocational baylor legend hazard that modi's father, a member of the oil press casks ran a t stall at the train station and their city dc. where mowdy is said to have helped sell t as a boy gad, economies to have l d. a contingent offer. it's an important element of them to render a modi man. i'm, i'm a deeper, it means he's a self made man, man. he worked his way up, he is a man of the people and is against a leader of book gold toys in it. like most school boys in his town, the render mowdy was recruited by the r s s or national volunteer organization, which was inspired by fascist movements in europe. founded in 1925 under british colonial rule, the r as since sought to foster hindu nationalism and cast off born influences. mowdy woke at dawn to take part in outdoor exercises and listen to patriotic speeches. ah, mowdy learned to march and raised the flag, but also to fight in defense of hindu values as a nationalist paramilitary organization. the ar assess, had found a new enemy, the ruling congress party, and the nehru gandhi class. in the eyes of the r ss, they were too close to the former colonial rulers and to willing to accept the partition of british india into india and pakistan. he was he this he all, sir donald piedmont. there were also lessons on india's history hush door recounting the golden age of the hindus and supposedly the oldest people on earth and when he presents yup, rest your day. the members became increasingly indoctrinated over time until they were finally fully indoctrinated. this some quit a but those who stayed had internalized the ideology. so kinda like modi. so he worked his way up the ranks of the r s. s. is this whole cow isa? div would organisation mowdy felt more drawn to the teachings of the hindu nationalist paramilitary group than to school. in 1965, at the age of 15, mowdy wanted to drop out and join the military. at a time when india was at war with pakistan, but his parents had a different plan in mind and arranged for him to marry a girl of the same cast. he was married off as a child. there's a tradition of child marriage in india and his family found a girl for him, roughly the same age. they were married off and when they were dose that was supposed to go live together. he barely had me say in the matter, to escape the marriage. mowdy made a decision that would change his life. he decided to leave home and travel to the himalayas. no can ozy nicholson is my azure disease levix. he didn't want to marry this girl and live with her. so he laughed, he left his wife and headed off. he is driven by a spiritual quest as he calls it me to i don't miss 1st he went to bengal. then he travelled across all of india from the west to the east of going deep into the himalayas, where he lived as a hermit and ascetic an asset. modi later recounted that he spent those 2 years studying hindu teachings and the armstrongs of the saw to hindu holy men who had renounced worldly life and western culture. ah, after returning from his pilgrimage, mowdy was certain of his destiny. his reawakened interest and hindu religion and ideology, found a home in the hindu nationalist paramilitary group that had shaped him in his youth . his new life could begin in 1973, moody was introduced to the new leader of the r. assess bala, sub de, are us. the 2 men immediately found common cause. the radical hindu leader became 23 year old modi's mentor and spiritual father. de ross taught modi how to speak with a motion and persuasive force, a whisper. it's not a lot more. oh, dear us instructed mowdy in hindu far. the political ideology of hindu nationalism formulated by vina yaktel mode, our sava car and his successors. it's an ideology that has roots in the wounds of india's history, british colonization, but also the muslim conquests and occupations between the 10th and 15th centuries. hindu nationalist is a belated response to a phenomenon that has plagued india for a millennium, which is invasions by islamic armies from central asia. so for one millennium, india was very repeatedly vandalized, plundered by armies that came in from across the western border. a great deal of heritage of india was destroyed during those reeds, and a number of hindus were massacred and forcibly converted to islam. in the 19th century, india once again experienced humiliation and violence. this time at the hand of european colonizers no bo implemented them, was the biggest or fun. who is the malazan, whether it was written simply down on for the good in belgium. that is, leave the people that was basically based on that. we made that, that then people will be in the name of the lady thing missing there. like did that is sorted in human beings, vicente or language they import religion at then the grid though, in dizziness to people as a back work not to relate. their just tried out on thinking ever since india obtained its independence in 1947. and do nationalists have dreamt of establishing a pure hindu state on the sacred ground of ancient india? it is a very powerful message to send out your supporters saying india is going to re claim her history from its glory days when the enormous slums, when the and all british we were all him though, and we were glorious. we had the best science, we had the best religion. we had all the knowledge the world needed. a and the gland to the claim that passed under the tutelage of skilled ideologists, mowdy acquired command over hindu nationalist rhetoric. in 1987, he joined the barajo, janet a party or b, j p. the main opposition to the ruling congress party mowdy swiftly rose through the ranks of the hindu nationalist b. j. p. from general, secretary of the good jerome branch to general secretary of the national party. he was now ready for the next step. the b j. p decided to send modi to go, jarrett to replace the states ailing cheap minister. the following year, after 3 decades in the shadows of his mentors, mowdy was finally ready to stand for election. in february, 2002, he won his bi election to the good urine state assembly. just days later, tragedy struck at least 58 hindu pilgrims. men, women and children died in a fire on board a train. they were returning from iowa jaw, where hindus had demolished a muslim mos. 10 years earlier. the train had stopped in a predominantly muslim city. and hindus immediately accused muslims of having set the train on fire. mowdy visited the scene to pay his respects to the victims. nobody's that he cleared about who, with that fire and how it happening. and then mode. he just came to the front, you know, he ordered the blend door needs to be brought to him to buy them, put on display for people to so to express the green, the muslim community was blamed for the tragedy and violence toward them escalated . moti remained silent riots spread across googe herat. eventually claiming more than 2000 lives. most of them muslim sick girl or says ha ha ha them when yeah, what we know comes from the testimony of a police officer who is now in prison with he stated that no rent remotely called police officers to his office in good gerard on the evening of the 27th of february, and that is them not to intervene for at least 3 days. the response of the police follow the monday dinner, but i haven't yet found all. all my pleasure will work now done within 72 hours. we were able to control the violence more than 500 people that most of the innocent civilians and you're calling this excellent work. i'm not happy. what happened? but what we have done, i'm happy mr. moody realized that he suddenly discovered a gold mine, that out here was hugely due state in society, which could be harnessed politically. he decided to advance elections. he realized that the rights and the division and the, and the most in sentiment which had been created in woodyard because of that he had of opportunity to harden this. a hindu of water back on this on what it is. it is showing the december election often mowdy obtained an absolute majority sooner more than 50 per cent of the vocal funds. that's extraordinary. for india on modi had found his election strategy and his voters, but both at home and on the international stage. he was now seen as a hard line, hindu nationalist. the u. k, imposed an official, no contact policy, and the us band him from entering the country for more than 10 years. to win over india and the world mowdy needed to paint a more likable image of himself. jealous, unco. oh, boy, of a dog. in 2014, the render mowdy stood for election as prime minister. he and his campaign turned to social media believing that mainstream media were too critical. an army of trolls tended to his image online. there were also radio broadcasts a web t v station and a youtube channel. our job was easy because the prime minister. busy was a big messenger and he also did give a big message. so all we had to do was give package it in modern the lingle. um, so we used things from cartoons we was means we used of gadgetry chosen. so each platform, like i said, has its own on different quality. his campaign was one of the most well oiled machines in the world. he had almost, it seemed bottomless supplies of cash. ah, he deployed an army off extremely talented and technologically savvy aids across the country. who built up a database, who knew how to target voters mowdy promised the indian people he would fight in equality poverty and corruption. but above all, he broke with party conventions to foster a cult of personality. he's a strong leader and you know, so initially very early on, in his 1st campaign he talked about his 56 inch chest that was strong. and would, you know, as a sign of his strength and that image of strength, solidity, discipline, almost godlike powers is one that has been manufactured and multiplied and disseminated endlessly. i will build smart cities. i will clean the ganges. i will make india into something resembling a 1st world country, perhaps even a superpower. give me that opportunity. he is an ideologue, but most importantly, he is a narcissist. he loves to project himself, he believes in himself. he sees himself as an agent of destiny. sesa the topic was saying, copying the island and the albany is a typical electoral campaign by no rend remedy relies on emotion and images too, and avoids making any specific political statement would year. her kind of politic be weak. anybody has no true interest in the economy, a boy in finances and that's not his purpose. and the phenol said in the pap, also in may 2014. at age 63, the render mowdy finally reached his goal. he was elected prime minister of india. now he would have to make good on his promises to bigger asleep, promote the country's economic growth, and to strengthen india's role on the world's political stage. boom. moti made his 1st appearance on the world stage in 2015 at the international day of yoga. he presented himself as a pacifist and spiritual leader for modi. and for india, it was a publicity coo broadcast around the world. international yoga day is now celebrated every year on june 21st. we are at home modi's. political opponents denounced his costly publicity maneuver outside the country. moti conveyed a carefully tended image of a global guru with millions of followers who came together around the world. practically in unison. berlin, kabul, new york, paris sydney, and beyond the gigantic ad campaign with international appeal. when he's abroad, especially in western democracies, he likes to be seen as one of the group of democratic leaders ah, bearing the button of the world. of course this off to you as he has an aspect to it. when you do yoga, however you do it for whatever jojo faxing it. just remember that something was started off in india. i'm. it just leaves you feeling happy about a guy with his global event, mowdy helped make good on his promise to restore india's national pride. and within a surprisingly short time, he won back the west's trust and claimed a place among the worlds superpowers. oh, but behind his carefully cultivated image of spiritual liter, mowdy is also a hawkish commander in chief, determined to make india of leading military power. shortly after assuming office moti staged a show of military might, the naval maneuvers were a warning to pakistan and china, india's neighbors and historic enemies. but also a signal to the west which was prepared