US media takes note of PM Modi’s ‘rock-star’ reception

The “high-profile” public reception that Narendra Modi received before a packed Madison Square Garden appeared prominently in American media, which so far had given scant coverage to the Prime Minister’s US visit.

The maiden US visit of Modi as Prime Minister was hardly taken note of by mainstream American media so far, till he addressed nearly 20,000 people of the Indian community at the event in Madison Square Garden in New York yesterday.

“Madison Square Garden thundered with applause as thousands rose to their feet and chanted the name of an unlikely celebrity: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

“The grand reception on Sunday, filled with dance and Bollywood tunes, was a reflection of the mood among much of the Indian-American community that sees Mr Modi as a once-in-a-generation leader who can at last fix the entrenched problems that have held India back while other Asian nations have sped ahead,” the daily wrote.

The Los Angeles Times wrote in its news report: “India’s Prime Minister gets rock-star reception in New York”.

“Madison Square Garden often hosts cultural icons such as Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Bono, but on Sunday the storied arena offered rock-star treatment to a political personality: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who made the case for a resurgent India to nearly 20,000 hugely enthusiastic supporters,” the daily wrote.

It said it was the highest-profile public appearance in the West for a leader whose reform-minded charisma has drawn comparisons to a 2008-era Barack Obama.

Quite a number of American media organisations had sent in their reporters to cover the Madison Square Garden event.

The New York Times said: “Mr Modi addressed a wildly enthusiastic audience that was largely made up of Indian Americans.”

“Mr Modi is here to sell a New India, with himself as the man who can be trusted to deliver the promise. But it remains to be see whether he is willing or able to bridge India’s wide differences with the US on tax policies, climate change, outsourcing, intellectual property rights and other issues,” the daily said.

Modi’s address at the Madison Square Garden was given primetime coverage by several news channels, which also showed the protest against the Prime Minister in New York.

The Washington Post carried a report by a news agency, so did several other newspapers.