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00:00 Patvini Mittal, our correspondent standing by at the French Embassy in the capital.
00:04 Hello to you, Patvini.
00:05 What have been some of the major themes during Emmanuel Macron's visit to India?
00:14 The biggest theme, or rather the sentiment that has emerged is that of friendship.
00:19 And the symbols are everywhere.
00:21 You know, the streets of Delhi are lined with posters of Macron and Modi, both of them shaking
00:26 hands, sort of hugging each other.
00:29 And we've seen pictures and videos of them having tea at a roadside stall in the city
00:34 of Jaipur.
00:35 You know, so you've seen that everywhere.
00:38 And this is also when India is marking, or rather India and France are marking 25 years
00:43 of the strategic partnership signed between the two countries in 1998.
00:48 And it's clear that Macron is here to sort of elevate that.
00:52 Now earlier this morning Macron made an announcement about attracting about 30,000 students to
00:59 France by the year 2030.
01:01 That number currently stands at 10,000, so that is an ambitious goal.
01:05 But underlining all these relations, like in all diplomatic relations, are business
01:10 ties.
01:11 India is the world's largest importer of military equipment, and France is the second largest
01:18 supplier.
01:19 So that is one of the strongest pillars of this alliance that we're seeing being celebrated
01:24 today.
01:25 Yeah, trade and defense may be topping that.
01:27 What does Indiana's Narendra Modi want out of this visit?
01:30 You know, this visit comes at an interesting time for India on the international stage.
01:38 India's had a banner year when it comes to its reputation and accomplishments in terms
01:43 of how the world sees it.
01:45 You had a successful moon landing last year, a successful G20 summit.
01:50 Then Prime Minister Modi has been invited last year for a state visit to the White House.
01:56 You know, he was the guest of honor at Basel Day Parade in France as well.
02:00 So all of that is also being celebrated.
02:04 The other thing we've seen with this government in particular is that when it comes to international
02:09 events like these, it really loves the pomp and show.
02:14 Visiting dignitaries and leaders are often treated as rock stars.
02:18 There's a lot of money spent on sort of celebrating the so-called friendship.
02:22 Prime Minister Modi has taken two leaders on separate occasions to a cricket stadium,
02:27 the largest cricket stadium in the world, which is in the state of Gujarat.
02:32 The stadium is named after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the two leaders have been
02:36 a former president of the US, Donald Trump, and the current Prime Minister of Australia,
02:41 Al-Baghdizi.
02:42 So, you know, a lot of the effort to sort of celebrate this friendship is also directed
02:48 towards elevating Prime Minister Modi as sort of the global leader.
02:52 France, like India, officially a secular country, but critics regularly accuse Modi and his
02:58 right-wing Hindu nationalist BJP party of violating the country's commitment to secularism.
03:03 Yeah, you know, Western countries have often been asked this question, and even though
03:12 human rights groups have said what you said, that Modi's track record on minority rights
03:16 and human rights has been deteriorating since he took office in 2014, leaders have not condemned
03:23 or rebuked or called out the country for this directly, at least.
03:30 And in fact, it's interesting today, Macron is scheduled to visit a Muslim shrine in the
03:37 city of New Delhi.
03:38 Now, this is a popular spot.
03:39 It is a well-known shrine.
03:42 Thousands of people visit it every week.
03:44 But it comes at an interesting time when you speak of secularism, because just this week,
03:49 Prime Minister Modi inaugurated a massive Hindu temple in India.
03:55 This temple has been built on the same grounds that a mosque stood for centuries and which
04:01 was demolished by a Hindu nationalist mob in 1992.
04:06 In fact, Modi even gifted Macron a replica of this temple during the visit.
04:12 And while Hindu nationalists and even the government calls this, you know, a new era
04:17 for the country, there are legal experts and political commentators we've spoken to who
04:21 say that this raises serious questions about India's commitment and this government's commitment
04:26 to secularism, particularly when it comes to rights of minority groups like Muslims.
04:31 All right, Pavini, thank you very much.
04:33 Pavini Mittal reporting from New Delhi.