Updated July 9, 2026 – 9:13 p.m.,first published 21:11 Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. TOTOTO Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Melbourne had a few elements: business, diplomatic and sports. And then there was the genre-busting community, cultural, rock star
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Melbourne had a few elements: business, diplomatic and sports. And then there was the genre-busting community, cultural, rock star and political spectacle Thursday night at Marvel Stadium.
Thousands of people waved their mobile phone lights as Modi walked onto a stage bedecked with purple garlands in the center of the stadium, accompanied by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Prime Minister Jacinta Allan, who experienced a level of cheering and a lack of booing to which they were not accustomed.
In a speech punctuated by frequent applause, Modi declared that just as sugar sweetens milk, Indians integrate and sweeten societies worldwide.
“Just like when you add sugar to milk, it becomes sweeter,” he said.
“Just as we Indians infuse the world,” he continued before a crowd estimated at 20,000.
“The milk comes from Australia, but the tea is made Indian style.
“I am the tea seller, the chai wallah,” he said to great applause.
Albanese said he had first visited India in 1991 as a backpacker, while Allan said she had been on a 600-day streak of practicing yoga since her visit as prime minister in 2024.
Modi has visited Australia three times, the first in 2014.
“This completes the hat trick,” he said. “This demonstrates the heights that India-Australia relations have reached.”
Not even Docklands Stadium could contain the size or exuberance of “Modi Meets Melbourne”, with Cranbourne’s 50-strong Janagar Jana Dhol Pathak drum group outside Gate 2 delivering a deafening serenade as the crowd arrived.
“This is a very important event for us,” said percussion leader Satish Gaikwad. “Australia and India come together. That is the unity we want to show to the world.”
The sound of huge, shoulder-carried dhol drums and smaller tasha drums completely overshadowed the 30 or so protesters sporting a weak public address system and banners reading “Modi Go Home” and “Stop Indian Invasion.”
This group went largely unnoticed by the 20,000 Indians advancing along the concourse towards the stadium, in what could be seen as a metaphor for the geopolitical realities between Australia (27 million inhabitants) and India (1.47 billion inhabitants).
Rachita Savant of Wyndham Vale said she had mixed opinions about the protesters.
“I don’t think they have enough information about what they’re talking about,” he said.
“I understand your emotions. But honestly, not all the groups that come here today are detrimental to Australia. They are people who are of a certain caliber to be here. They are not here living off Centrelink.”
“Especially the Indians,” said her friend Gayatri Gangapurkar of Truganina.
“Australia is a diverse culture,” Gangapurkar added. “Australia accepts diversity and India is the same. Because it is one India, but there are different cultures, different languages coexisting. It is quite similar.”
Thirty years ago, the Indian diaspora in Australia numbered 50,000, said Pawan Luthra, chief executive of media group Indian Link. When the next census is released, it is expected to show the number has risen to 1.3 million, he said.
The Indian diaspora has already eclipsed the British as the largest foreign-born group here.
“Many of them go from permanent residents to citizens over time,” Luthra said. “Many of them want to participate fully in Australia, except when there is a cricket match.”
As for Modi: “I value him as a strong economic manager, but there are many things that should have been done better.”
As his hug with Albanese on Thursday demonstrated, Modi is a world leader who knows the power of a good selfie. He is only the second Indian prime minister in history to win a third consecutive term, after Jawaharlal Nehru. (Indira Gandhi won four non-consecutive terms.)
Like Nehru, who had his jacket, Modi’s sense of style means his name has been lent to the Modi kurta, a fitted half-sleeved or long-sleeved blouse with a mandarin collar that he is often seen wearing.
But some are very critical of him. Hindus for Human Rights Australia said it had serious concerns about “democracy and human rights, deaths in custody, freedom of the press, the collapse of education systems, the right to protest and civil liberties, environmental protection, women’s safety and the persecution of minorities in India.”
Both countries are helping each other, said Dr Jagwinder Virk, Chairman of the India-Australia Strategic Alliance.
“Relationships are strengthening,” he said, pointing to critical minerals, trade and the Indian Premier League.
“Most Australian players spend three to four months in India. Now they have a second home in India,” he said. “Glenn Maxwell is married to an Indian woman. That’s a good thing.”
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Stephen Brook is a special correspondent for The Age and a CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously deputy editor of The Sunday Age. He is the former media editor of The Australian and spent six years in London working for The Guardian.Connect through X either email.From our partners
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