‘Like a father to us’: pride and protest as thousands flock to see Narendra Modi in Melbourne

The throb of drum beats reverberated around Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on Thursday afternoon.

Crowds milling outside the stadium had come not for an AFL match or international concert but to honour one of India’s most powerful leaders in modern history – Narendra Modi.

Tens of thousands of people streamed into the stadium for the “Melbourne Meets Modi” event.

The Indian prime minister’s three day visit for bilateral talks in Melbourne is his first visit to Australia in three years. Albanese and his Indian counterpart announced a major uranium deal and strengthened defence ties on Thursday, as tens of thousands gathered to honour Modi.

Inside the stadium, saris twirled and sparkled on the stage during cultural dance performances representing the diversity of Australia’s Indian diaspora.

Ahead of the event, attendee Dibti Bandal described Modi as one of the “great prime ministers of India”.

“From as young as four years old to as old as ۷۰ year old, he has a vision for everybody,” she said.

“He’s got India … on a global platform. He’s got India really known and recognised and he’s doing a lot more for India.”

Saloni Bhagat described Modi as “like a father to us.”

While large swathes of Australia’s Indian community hail Modi for raising the country’s profile on the international stage, his visit has sparked condemnation from human rights groups and some parts of Australia’s Muslim and Sikh communities.

Critics of Modi, who was elected prime minister in ۲۰۱۴, say some of his policies are fundamentally discriminatory, including a citizenship bill which fast-tracked citizenship for refugees from some countries but excluded Muslim countries.

Protester Sachin Sambhus, who demonstrated outside Marvel Stadium before the rally, said the prime minister had destroyed India’s democracy, pointing to minorities becoming “second-class citizens”.

Sambhus said the Albanese government could give a “grand welcome” but had to “ask the right questions”.

Ahead of Modi’s visit, human rights organisation Amnesty International urged the Albanese government to raise India’s human rights record in the bilateral talks, with a statement describing the visit as an “opportunity to reaffirm mutual commitment to human rights, democratic freedoms and the rule of law”.

The statement called for Australia to encourage India to ensure journalists and human rights advocates could work free from intimidation and address discrimination of religious and ethnic minorities.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said the government had a relationship with India that enabled it to “speak directly and respectfully about important issues, including where we disagree.”

“The Australian Government has a longstanding commitment to the protection of human rights, and raises issues regularly in our engagements with foreign governments,” the spokesperson said.

Earlier on Thursday, Albanese and Modi attended the Australia–India Annual Leaders’ Summit before unveiling a major new uranium exports agreement.

The uranium deal could end decades of delays to regular shipments of the nuclear fuel, the Australian prime minister said the agreement would enable uranium exports to flow to India for “peaceful purposes”.

Australia had previously struck a deal with India to sell uranium to the country in ۲۰۱۴, but regular shipments have not occurred due to concerns it could be used for weapons.

Speaking alongside Albanese on Thursday, Modi hailed the new agreement as being vital to help expand his country’s nuclear energy sector. He stressed the importance of the bilateral relationship to “bring peace, stability, freedom of navigation and a rules-based order” across the Indo-Pacific region.

Albanese said Australia’s relationship with India had “never been stronger”.

“We share a focus on deepening and diversifying the relationship between our countries so we can continue to grow from strength to strength,” he said.

He said the uranium arrangement would provide an additional market for Australia’s resource sector. He also pointed to a joint declaration on defence and security cooperation to deepen the two countries’ practical partnership as signs of their deepening ties.

“We undertake to consult on defence related developments in the Indo-Pacific that affect our shared interests,” he said.

Albanese said for all the “broad affection between our peoples” the relationship between the countries was “underdone, under-explored and under-examined”.

With additional reporting by Australian Associated Press