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After being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, Trump started his inaugural address with a sentence that echoed Modi's coinage some years ago, notes Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
By January 2014 the word was out that India was heading for a regime change. At his third press conference since assuming the prime minister's office in 2004, Dr Manmohan Singh declared, 'In a few months time, after the general election, I will hand the baton over to a new prime minister.' Declaration made, he shared his hope that she or he 'will be a UPA chosen prime minister'.
Few even in his party shared this publicly declared wish. By that time, the Congress edifice had begin crumbling and the Bharatiya Janata Party's had begun rising.
Narendra Modi then appeared almost predestined to become India's next premier -- the only question remaining unanswered was the party's tally in Lok Sabha. The greater it would be, the wider would be his elbow room and vice versa.
Despite disagreeing with his politics and track record as Gujarat chief minister and the BJP's ideology of Hindu majoritarianism or Hindutva, my 'stock' too was rising correspondingly.
The reason was that after a gap of two decades, I was finally able to come out with my second book, this time being the fast-selling Modi biography.
Being the first one among the gaggle of books on him that hit the market from the first quarter of 2013, with the benefit of interviews with him and being as balanced as one could be when writing on a contentious subject like him, I became a much-sought after person.
Among other, my fellow professionals were interested to get hold of me for a chat on the man. More than the Indian media, foreign journalists, those stationed here, as well as those who arrived from across the globe to track the crucial polls in the largest democracy in the world, sought me out.
What was Modi like? Had he really left his 'past' behind and was now completely focused on 'development' politics? What kind of governance would he provide Indians? Who would be possible members of his government?
And, most importantly, what kind of a man he really like, given that I spent some time with him while working the book and also had somewhat, known him prior to 2001 when he was made the CM? The questions never ceased...
Soon, a pattern emerged from my answers. If there was a French journalist quizzing me, (s)he would, interrupt at a certain point, 'My-my, he sounds so much like (Nicolas) Sarkozy!' And, the Russians would mutter, 'Quite like (Vladimir) Putin'.
Likewise, journalists from one or the other countries in Latin America would softly say, 'Very similar to (Hugo) Chavez'.
After he became prime minister in May 2014, comparing Modi to other populist leaders across the globe became a fairly regular phenomenon.
Comparisons were drawn often: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Viktor Orban, Jair Bolsonaro, Benjamin Netanyahu, Boris Johnson, Giorgia Melloni, and, of course. Donald Trump. Even some like Marine Le Pen were said to be cast in the same stone although political power has eluded them so far.
Some traits united these leaders, while there were a few characteristics that were typical of them.
For instance, I have not yet come across any leader of Modi's ilk with the similar capacity to weave acronyms -- for instance, he has an abbreviation for almost every situation, every concept.
Most of these leaders, whose numbers have somewhat swelled in recent years, begin by swearing by democracy but do not always end up as its dedicated practitioners.
They have a way with words and are adept in creating 'perceptions' of success even though the objective may be distant, or even non-realisable. And, they are almost always adept at bolstering their cult-like public persona.
It is not that in India, there were no populists in history or even now in current times. There was a brief period after the success in the 1971 parliamentary elections and the war with Pakistan that led to liberation of Bangladesh, when Indira Gandhi manifested several characters of populist leaders, but soon she lost the aura and fast lost support forcing her to impose the Emergency which curtailed fundamental rights.
She made a comeback as PM in 1980, but that aura was gone and she barely clung on to her mandate. It cannot be said with certainty that she would have returned to power if her life had not ended by bodyguards turned assassins.
In contemporary India, Modi has his scaled-down versions in the likes of Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee, both of whom, like Modi, have scant interest in bolstering inner-party democracy and make lofty promises, not all of which are possibly to be delivered.
Globally, academics, especially political scientists have researched and written extensively on the rise of populism and how one leader often mirrors the other.
History is replete with instances when populism and populists emerged by using democratic processes -- Adolf Hitler, for instance, acquired power through the ballot.
Trump too was elected last November by an emphatic mandate. However, in most cases, such leaders eventually went on and continue to hollow out democracies.
The reason for democracy and its institutions being among the first target of populists after they stabilise their regimes is because most populists are also majoritarian in their primary worldview: Some like Modi, on the basis of religious identity, and others, on ethnic or racial lines.
All these thoughts actually came gushing back into the mind while listening to the inaugural address of Donald Trump, once more the American president.
Even during his first tenure, the similarities between Trump and Modi were commented upon. Many analysts, including me, argued that it was not without reason that Modi virtually campaigned for the former's failed attempt at re-election in 2020 with his 'Abki baar, Trump Sarkar' call at his rally in Texas in September 2019.
For his 2024 run, when Modi visited the US last year, he did not meet Trump, probably due to his reduced mandate and loss of majority for the BJP in last year's Lok Sabha polls. But, similarities remain and these could not be missed while listening to Trump.
After being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States, Trump started his roughly 30-minute inaugural address with a sentence that echoed Modi's coinage some years ago.
Trump started his speech with an unambiguous declaration: 'The Golden Age of America begins right now. From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer...'
Trump's concept of a Golden Age was not laid out or elaborated but was conveyed in very general terms and used only the notional meaning of the two words.
Likewise, during Modi's 2021 Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, effectively the 75th anniversary of India attaining freedom in 1947, he coined the phrase Amrit Kaal which is almost a mirror image of the idea of a Golden Age. Or, is it vice-versa?
It is not that Trump necessarily picked up lines from Modi's previous speeches. But it is the similarity of thought and articulation which made the US president to say, a 'tide of change is sweeping the country. Sunlight is pouring over the entire world, and America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before.'
This is a replay of the manner in which Modi used two words with magical effort to secure his mandate in 2014: Badlav (change) and achche din (good days)!
If in Modi's vocabulary, achievement or success is always juxtaposed by the projection of an enemy that is attempting to diminish India's standing and weaken the country, Trump followed up his opening line by stating that the US 'will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation.'
Like Modi, Trump too painted the picture that the previous regime was not only weak, but also as one which undermined the nation greatly.
He contrasted this by asserting that his government 'will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer.'
There are common traits to both leaders and attacking what is taught in schools and universities is among the first targets.
While in India, the most recent UGC Draft Regulations are being depicted as the last nail in the coffin of higher education in India after many school textbooks have been replaced with apologies of various disciplines, Trump said bitterly that the US had 'an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves, in many cases to hate our country...'
Like Modi, Trump too found 'traces' of divinity within himself (recall Modi's interview in which he said he often thought of himself as a non-biological being).
In his inaugural address, the US president similarly declared that he believes, 'even more so now, that my life was saved (the reference is to the assassination attempts during the campaign) for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.'
Modi began his run in 2014 by referring to Parliament as 'temple of democracy' and the Constitution as India's only 'Holy book', yet has undermined the institution as well as the spirit of the text he swears by.
Likewise, Trump pledged that he 'will not forget our country. We will not forget our Constitution. And we will not forget our God.'
Populists have to intimidate one section (representing the OTHER) so that the other (meaning the US) feels comforted.
As a consequence of this norm, Trump let out a threat that he will 'begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.'
Trump's anti-immigrants playbook is starkly similar to Modispeak on ghupathiyas or infiltrators. Ten years after assuming office and when Modi's close aide, Union Home Minister Amit Shah referred to this lot as deemakh or white ants, this action still remains a verbal threat.
And, one of Trump's first acts after getting elected was to declare his intention to establish the brand new 'Department of Government Efficiency.'
Now, does anyone remember Modi's contention in the run-up to the 2014 election that India straight away required 'Maximum Governance, Minimum Government'?
More than a decade later, the adage is completely reversed. It remains to be seen if Trump follows suit, though he will have the disadvantage of only four more years. But it may be a sufficient period to paraphrase, if not repeat verbatim, certain lines of Modi and other populists the world over.
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay is an author and journalist based in Delhi-NCR.
His latest book is The Demolition, The Verdict and The Temple: The Definitive Book on the Ram Mandir Project.
He is also the author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com