Why Made in India is better than Made in America

Come, make in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been saying to people in India and in America. Come and share my dream, he told the ecstatic Indian Americans at Madison Square Garden. He repeated the themes of the Make in India address in Delhi – India has democracy, demographic dividend and demand, three things that will allow it to fulfil its destiny.

Modi was in form, motivating the audience, giving them the example of another pravasi Mahatma Gandhi, urging them to share his vision.

It's a pity he was doing it on an occasion that was a study in tackiness. If there was any doubt that Make in India now stands for quality it was this. The Made in America event was amazing in its school annual day-ishness. There were the obligatory folk dances, set to Bollywood tunes; the de rigueur Sukhvinder Singh songs “Chak De India” and “Jai Ho”; anchors fumbling and discussing off-stage details into the mic. There was an introduction by Akshay Kapoor, a little known actor whom I have had the misfortune of watching in the only two (I hope) Hindi films he has made: Popcorn Khao! Mast Ho Jao and Alag. And then there was a calling on stage of powerful senators and Congressmen who were made to queue up like guests at a wedding to greet Modi.

As if that was not enough, Kavita Krishnamurthy sang off key. Anjali, who sang the US national anthem, was caught off guard by her recording starting at the same time as her live singing – clearly someone had forgotten to inform the technical managers that she was not lip syncing. All that was missing was a magician doing some Dhoom 3-like magic tricks and Katrina Kaif swinging from a trapeze singing “Sheila ki Jawani” (though one folk dance was set to the tune of “Malang Malang”).

Even a moderately well made short film (by Patang's Prashant Bhargava) with a great voiceover (we are gurus and dreamers, inventors of the future, bangers of the drum) had some odd visual references: among the notables such as Mahatma Gandhi and Satyajit Ray, they showed pictures of the event anchor Miss America Nina Davuluri and PBS Newshour anchor Hari Sreenivasan – payback for hosting for free?

There was a down-at-home quality to the event that was a far cry from the slickness and professionalism we have come to associate with Modi events – just compare the Maidson Square Garden event to any of Modi's rallies or to the Make in India kickstart in Delhi. Which is perhaps just as well – clearly NRIs need the idea of a resurgent India more than India needs them.

Modi's speech, extempore as usual with his familiar trope of India having become a land of mouse-workers (and not snake charmers) and sending a mission to Mars at less than the cost of Gravity, was just the kind of exhortation they need right now. They have for long wanted a place at the high table of nations, a status comparable to their own considerable achievements, but have been consistently let down by the reality of India. They hope Modi will deliver them – though he claims he is a small man interested only in doing big things for small people.

And when he visits America next, he must hope that the event is Made in India.