BJP and Sangh Parivar workers across the country and particularly in Uttar Pradesh have taken it upon themselves to tell people how some of the strongest men in the world hugging Modi — US President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu being the latest example — was a sign that India is finally seen as a superpower for its economic and military might under the three years of the Modi government. This, or so is the word on the ground, had not been possible with any of Modi’s predecessors. The Congress has tried to counter this by releasing video footage of then US president Ronald Reagan holding the umbrella for Rajiv Gandhi during the latter’s visit to the US in the mid-1980s.
