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Hello there, Mark Fennell here. Sorry it's been

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so long since I've been in this feed.

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It's very exciting news. We

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are putting the finishing touches on the

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brand new TV season of Stuff The

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British Style. Eight new episodes will be

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coming to you very soon on ABC

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TV in Australia and CBC Canada and other

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platforms around the world. Very excited to show

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you. But while you're waiting, there's

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something I'd like you to have a listen to.

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So if you want to talk about countries left

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in the wake of the British Empire, you can't

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go past India. A good friend of mine, Avani

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Dias, the ABC South Asia correspondent, has been

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on the hunt to understand the man at

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the very top of India's power, one of

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the world's most popular world leaders, Narendra Modi.

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He's now in charge of the most populous

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nation on Earth, the world's biggest democracy. But

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what makes him tick? Where did he come

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from and what are his plans next for India? It's

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all part of Avani and the ABC's

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new podcast Looking for Modi. Here's

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a taste. Sharika

0:56

kar kar or

0:58

Samayka pal pal. Narendra

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Modi is one of the most

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powerful people in the world. He

1:05

became India's prime minister 10 years

1:08

ago and he's changed this country

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of more than a billion people.

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In fact, it's overtaken China as

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the most populous country on the

1:17

globe. Narendra

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Modi has made India the world's

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fastest growing economy. Countries like Australia

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and the US are desperate to

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get close to him. Before the

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last time I saw someone on the stage

1:39

here was Bruce Springsteen and he didn't get

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the welcome the Prime Minister Modi has got.

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And he's been criticized for

1:46

threatening crucial democratic rights. Some

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fear him. But when it

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comes to the man himself, there are

1:53

so many myths and stories about Narendra

1:56

Modi. what

2:00

is real and what is a propaganda. I'm

2:02

Avani Dias, the ABC's South Asia

2:04

correspondent, and I've been living in

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India for the last few years,

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but I feel like I'm only just

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peeling back the layers on who Narendra

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Modi is. This is

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a man about whom an awful lot

2:18

has been written and said he's been

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a subject of intense scrutiny, considerable speculation.

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There's his involvement with a group

2:25

called the RSS, which is either

2:27

like the Boy Scouts or a

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right wing paramilitary group, depending on

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who you ask. RSS

2:34

is not a political organization. You know

2:36

that we believe in man

2:38

making only. And then there's

2:40

the Hindu temple, which has recently been built

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on the side of an old Muslim mosque

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that was torn down by mobs

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and fueled riots. There are

2:50

hundreds of Hindus just climbing over

2:52

the barbed wire fence. The sapran

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flag of Hinduism is raised. Events

2:56

like that have led some to the

2:58

question whether Modi is trying to turn

3:00

India into an exclusively

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Hindu country. I've gone

3:05

backwards and forwards from thinking that Modi

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was a very hard line Hindu nationalist

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to thinking that he was definitely not

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a kind of liberalizing figure, but somebody

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who is more of a modern izer.

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And in the end, I think that

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Modi is the ultimate power politician. He

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wants to stay in power. And

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that's not even all of it. He

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often portrays himself as a single man,

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but he has a wife who he

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left decades ago and has tried to

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keep quiet. But life

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was absolutely vast of you know,

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a poverty stricken person. There's no

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doubting Narendra Modi has changed India.

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When I first visited the US

3:45

as a prime minister, India was

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the 10th largest economy in the

3:50

world. Today, India

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is the fifth largest

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of all thoseoe But

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he's about to run for election again,

4:06

and the polls suggest he'll win. So

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who is this man? And are

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the stories he tells about his life true?

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It's been hard trying to get people

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to talk to me openly about Narendra

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Modi. They're worried there will

4:21

be consequences. But in

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my new podcast Looking for Modi, I'm going

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to get some answers. I'm travelling

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around India speaking to people who grew up

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with him, who went to school with him

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and those who've studied the way he leads

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the country now. And yes, I'm

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going to try and find his wife. That's

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Looking for Modi, available from March

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12 on the ABC Listen app

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and wherever you get your podcasts.