Thousands gather at Marvel Stadium for cultural extravaganza with Anthony Albanese
Updated ,first published
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Melbourne had several elements: business, diplomatic and sporting. And then the genre-busting ensemble/cultural/rock star/political extravaganza happened Thursday night at Marvel Stadium.
Thousands of people waved their mobile phone lights in the air as Modi, accompanied by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Prime Minister Jacinta Allan, took a purple-wreathed stage in the middle of the stadium.
In his speech, which was punctuated by frequent applause, Modi explained that Indians integrate and sweeten societies around the world, just as sugar sweetens milk.
“Just like when sugar is added to milk, it becomes sweeter,” he said.
“Just like we Indians have vaccinated the world,” he continued to a crowd estimated at 20,000.
“The milk comes from Australia, but the tea is made the Indian way.
“I am a tea seller, a chai wallah,” Modi said to loud applause.
Albanese said he first visited India as a backpacker in 1991, while Allan said he has been on a 600-day yoga practice streak since his visit as prime minister in 2024.
Modi has visited Australia three times, the first in 2014.
“This completes the hat-trick,” he said. “This shows the level India-Australia relations have reached.”
Not even the Docklands stadium could contain the magnitude or exuberance of “Melbourne Meets Modi”, with Cranbourne’s 50-piece Janagar Jana Dhol Pathak drum band performing an eardrum-shattering serenade as spectators arrived outside gate 2.
“This is a very important event for us,” drum leader Satish Gaikwad said. “Australia and India are coming together. This is the unity we want to show the world.”
The sound of huge dhol drums carried over the shoulder and smaller tasha drums completely dwarfed the 30-odd protesters carrying a weak PA system and posters of “Modi Go Home” and “Stop Indian Invasion”.
This group went largely unnoticed by the 20,000 Indians who flocked to the stadium in a stampede, in what could be seen as a metaphor for the geopolitical realities between Australia (pop. 27 million) and India (pop. 1.47 billion).
Rachita Savant from Wyndham Vale said she had mixed views on the protesters.
“I think they don’t have enough information about what they’re talking about,” he said.
“I understand their feelings. But to be honest, not all of the groups coming here today are harmful to Australia. These are people with the ability to be here. They’re not living here on Centrelink money.”
“Especially the Indians,” said fellow Truganina native Gayatri Gangapurkar.
“Australia is a diverse culture,” Gangapurkar added. “Australia accepts diversity and India is the same. Because it is one India but different cultures, different languages living together. It is quite similar.”
Thirty years ago, the Indian diaspora in Australia numbered 50,000, said Pawan Luthra, managing director of media group Indian Link. He said when the next census is announced it is expected to show the figure rising to 1.3 million.
The Indian diaspora has already eclipsed the British as the largest foreign-born group here.
“Many transition from permanent residence to citizenship over time,” Luthra said. “Many of them want to be fully involved in Australia – as long as there is no cricket.”
As for Modi: “I value him as a strong economic manager, but there are a lot of things that need to be done better.”
As his embrace of Albanese on Thursday showed, Modi is a world leader who knows the power of a good selfie. He became the second Indian prime minister in history after Jawaharlal Nehru to win a third consecutive term. (Indira Gandhi won four consecutive terms.)
Similar to Nehru with his jacket, Modi’s sense of style means his name is lent to the Modi kurta, a mandarin-collared, half- or full-sleeved top he often wears.
However, some are quite critical of him. Hindus for Human Rights Australia said it had serious concerns about “democracy and human rights, deaths in custody, press freedoms, collapsing education systems, the right to protest and civil liberties, environmental protection, women’s safety and the persecution of minorities in India”.
India-Australia Strategic Alliance chairman Dr. Jagwinder Virk said that both countries help each other.
“Relations are improving,” he said, pointing to critical minerals, trade and the Indian Premier League.
“Most Australian players spend three to four months in India. They now 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 working for The Guardian in London.Connect with: X or email.
