‘Unstoppable, Inevitable’: Western media swings to the other side in appraisals of PM Modi

New Delhi: It was just a few years ago that a large section of Western media was unstinting in its criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but most are now changing their tone to engage with him more and showcase his role in India’s transformation and its increasing global influence.

The Newsweek interview, conducted by the prominent magazine’s global editor-in-chief Nancy Cooper, CEO Dev Pragad, and Editorial Director (Asia) Danish Manzoor Bhat, is a case in point, with the cover photo of the magazine featuring PM Modi – only the second Indian Prime Minister to figure on the cover – and the caption reading: “UNSTOPPABLE” and “How NARENDRA MODI is CHANGING INDIA and THE WORLD”.

A companion piece to the interview seems a balanced, critical, and complimentary account of the Prime Minister and his political course, which freely acknowledges the transformation of India’s economy, technical sector, infrastructure, and diplomacy under him as indisputable.

Even citing critiques such as by Bhaskar Chakravorti, Dean of Global Business at the Fletcher School of Tufts University, in a Harvard Business Review article, the account tempers their sole demographic focus with the list of achievements accomplished in PM Modi’s India.

It also quotes Foreign Policy magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Ravi Agrawal’s view of how the PM’s launch of a new nation-building initiative, by “projecting an image of a more powerful, muscular, prideful” country is increasingly gaining traction among increasing ranks of receptive Indians.

The Newsweek article also cited how the Morning Consult gave PM Modi a domestic approval rating of nearly 78 per cent, making him the most popular global leader in its survey, with more than double the support for US President Joe Biden.

Sharing the survey on X, veteran Norwegian peace negotiator Erik Solheim posed: “Maybe it is time for Western media to give India and Modiji some positive coverage?”

The process seems to be already underway.

IANS