Narendra Modi, Once Unwelcome in US, Gets Rock Star Reception

The Indians who draw crowds of adoring fans are usually tall and sultry, with washboard abs and elaborate outfits, Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan - described by some as the Brad Pitt of India - or Priyanka Chopra, the bombshell actress, singer and model.

But this time it is a teetotaler and bachelor who has boasted of his 56-inch chest and wears a simple cotton shirt.

Narendra Modi, India's new prime minister, will receive a rally fit for a rock star at Madison Square Garden on Sunday. His rags-to-riches story mirrors the rise of Gujarat, the Indian state that he governed and that gave him and his Bharatiya Janata Party a landslide victory in India's general election in May. His new profile has also allowed him to return to the United States; the State Department had revoked his visa in 2005 over his alleged role in deadly religious riots in Gujarat three years earlier.

For Modi and his supporters, the visit, which includes a speech before the United Nations General Assembly and a meeting with President Barack Obama, is also a moment to connect with members of the broad Indian diaspora in the United States, many of whom watched with embarrassment from afar as India's economic engine sputtered and corruption scandals plagued Modi's rivals in the Indian National Congress party, which has governed India for most of its postcolonial history.

"Prime Minister Modi's message will be refreshing - what role Indian-Americans can play promoting a relationship between two great stories," said Dr. Bharat Barai, a longtime friend of Modi's who helped arrange his visit.

Many Indians in the United States see Modi as India's savior: a strong leader who has pledged to cut through red tape, stamp out corruption, revive India's economy and restore pride.

Of the more than 1,700 Indians living in the United States who responded to a New York Times questionnaire, a majority expressed excitement and hope about Modi's visit, saying they expected him to resurrect the narrative of India as a rising global power and strengthen relations between the two countries.

"Modi's trip will jump-start the process of restoring respect and admiration for Indian civilization," wrote one respondent, Sant Gupta, 66, of Virginia.

Tapping into a level of interest they never expected, Barai and the group organizing the $1.5 million event, the Indian American Community Foundation, have mobilized more than 400 organizations and individuals. Bollywood stars offered their talents, but organizers wanted to keep the focus on Indian-Americans. The hosts will be last year's Miss America winner, Nina Davuluri, and a PBS anchor, Hari Sreenivasan. Anjali Ranadivé, the daughter of Vivek Ranadivé, owner of the Sacramento Kings basketball team, will sing the American national anthem, while L. Subramaniam, a violinist, and Kavita Krishnamurthy, a classical singer, will perform the Indian anthem.

The prime minister's office told Barai and the other organizers, "Just don't have a Bollywood night there."

The event will include an acrobatic and laser show, a speed-painted portrait of Modi and a hologram re-creating the seminal speech of Modi's guru, Swami Vivekananda, who became the ambassador of Hinduism to the United States when he spoke at the World's Parliament of Religions in 1893. Modi was honoring Vivekananda when he visited the United States in 1993, and Barai recalled how embarrassed Modi was by his meager possessions during that visit.

"I know you only do laundry in America once a week," Modi said.

"But I only have two pairs of clothes." Now, his shirts are a fashion symbol.

"It's also milestone for us as a community," said Anand Shah, a spokesman for the organizers.

Only about half of the 30,000 people who applied for free tickets will get to see Modi. Free lunches will be provided around the corner for guests though Modi, himself, will be observing a nine-day religious fast. A majority of those attending are from the Northeast.

"I am die-hard fan of Narendra Modiji and have been following him since last 12 years," a software engineer from Atlanta wrote in an email to Barai, using a term of respect for the prime minister. He said he had bought a plane ticket to New York before learning that he had not got a ticket to the Modi event.

The Indian diaspora is as complex as India itself: a kaleidoscope of religious and ethnic groups, a growing middle class, skilled laborers, poor migrants and pockets of the wealthy elite. The Indian government estimates the diaspora, including immigrants and their descendants, at 20 million, with large concentrations in 22 countries.

India has the largest number of people living outside its borders of any nation, according to the Pew Research Center. Indian-Americans make up the third-largest Asian-American group in the United States and lead these groups in terms of income and education.

"India has defense and economic ties with other countries," said Tanvi Madan, director of the India Project at the Brookings Institution, but the large number of Indians living in the United States "is what makes the relationship different."

By the mid-1990s, the Indian community in the United States was fairly large and rich, made up of skilled migrants of the 1960s and '70s and young men seeking higher education in the mid-1980s, according to Ashutosh Varshney, a political scientist at Brown University.

"This diaspora was embarrassed about India's poverty and economic performance," he said. "There's a diasporic desire to see India economically rise again, which also drives the fascination with Mr. Modi."

After India's economy was overhauled in the 1990s, its technology sector began to boom, and it began approaching China's double-digit growth rates. But the global downturn of 2008-09 laid bare India's chronic problems, including antiquated infrastructure, wasteful spending and rising food prices.