{"id":63446,"date":"2024-04-19T21:08:31","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T12:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2024\/apr\/19\/messianic-spell-how-narendra-modi-created-a-cult-personality-from-the-age-of-eight"},"modified":"2024-04-19T21:08:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T12:08:31","slug":"messianic-spell-how-narendra-modi-created-a-cult-of-personality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/?p=63446","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Messianic spell\u2019: how Narendra Modi created a cult of personality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Experts say Indian PM is hoping to be \u2018bigger than Gandhi\u2019 as he aims to win a third term in office<\/p>\n<p>As the distant rumble of a helicopter drew closer, cheers erupted from the gathered crowds in anticipation. By the time India\u2019s prime minister finally stepped on to the stage, bowing deeply while immaculately dressed in a white kurta and peach waistcoat and with a neatly trimmed beard, the chants had reached a deafening pitch: \u201cModi, Modi, Modi.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>These scenes, at a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2024\/mar\/31\/india-opposition-protest-modis-match-fixing-ahead-of-general-election\">campaign rally<\/a> on the outskirts of the Uttar Pradesh city of Meerut, have been replicated across the country in recent weeks as Modi and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) seek to win a third term in India\u2019s election, which begins on 19 April and goes on for six weeks.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2024\/apr\/19\/messianic-spell-how-narendra-modi-created-a-cult-personality-from-the-age-of-eight\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Experts say Indian PM is hoping to be \u2018bigger than Gandhi\u2019 as he aims to win a third term in officeAs the distant rumble of a helicopter drew closer, cheers erupted from the gathered crowds in anticipation. By the time India\u2019s prime minister finally st&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":663,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,433,61,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-india","category-narendra-modi","category-south-and-central-asia","category-world-news"],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/663"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63447,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63446\/revisions\/63447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eastasianews.net\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}