Looking For Modi

Narendra Modi was confident that the 2024 Indian election would be another major win in his remarkably successful political career. But the voters didn't follow his plan, forcing a leader who was banking on a landslide victory to work with smaller parties to form a ruling coalition.What does this mean for his future, and India's? In this bonus episode of Looking for Modi, Avani speaks to the ABC News Daily podcast about the result, and her reflections on reporting on Modi.

Narenda Modi loves to promote India's status as the largest democracy in the world, and experts agree that the country's elections are free and fair for all. Modi is now an unbackable favourite to win a third term as Prime Minister in the weeks ahead, with polls suggesting he is heading for another  victory. So why is he so sensitive to criticism, and aggressive in pursuing his detractors? In this final episode, Avani learns of the consequences of her own reporting on Modi after so many months searching for the truth.

Lifting Indians out of poverty lies at the core of Narendra Modi's wildly popular political strategy. And it's worked: during his Prime Ministership, India has risen from the tenth largest economy in the world to the fifth. But this rising tide has also widened the gap between the rich and the poor in India, and has raised questions about Modi's ties to business leaders who have turned the nation's rise to their own advantage.

In 2002, Narendra Modi's carefully crafted political story was rocked by a series of deadly attacks in his home state of Gujarat, where he was the highly popular Chief Minister. Thousands were killed in a wave of riots that lasted for three days and became a major national scandal. Modi's role in the violence has been heavily contested in the decades since, but he has never been able to shake the association in the minds of some Indians. How did he manage to survive such a high-profile catastrophe, and what is the legacy of those terrifying riots today?

In January 2024, Narendra Modi travelled to the northern Indian town of Ayodhya to attend the consecration of a Hindu temple with a very contested history. The site had previously been occupied by a 500-year-old mosque, and had become a focal point of broader disputes between India's Hindu and Muslim communities. That fight over one hill in Ayodhya resulted in a demolition, mass protests and deadly retaliations across India. It also gave Modi a cause he could champion throughout his rapid political rise.