When Vladimir Putin, who has survived the Cold War, oligarchs, sanctions, and Western op-eds, decides to shower praise, he does it with the ease of a man signing an execution order: cold, clipped, and with devastating clarity.
Yet, when asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Russian president practically turned wistful, declaring that ‘India got lucky’ because its prime minister ‘lives and breathes India and is a very reliable person’.
For a country accustomed to measuring self-worth through WhatsApp forwards, this unsolicited validation from the leader of another great nation arrived like an unexpected bonus.
A statesman’s endorsement
Putin did not merely applaud Modi’s haircut or his yoga. He described him as a ‘person of integrity’, deeply committed to strengthening ties across defence, economic cooperation, technology, and humanitarian engagement – the kind of seriousness reserved for allies, not emojis.
And then came the almost embarrassing intimacy: they sat at Putin’s residence, drank tea all evening, and chatted purely like humans, which, in diplomatic dialect, translates to ‘we are bros, not bureaucrats’. No protocol, no interpreter anxiety, no US State Department peering suspiciously from behind a potted plant.
A hug at the airport, no apology to CNN
Modi’s warm embrace at the airport – ordinarily reserved for film stars or billionaires fleeing an arrest warrant – was enough to send Western commentators into a frenzy.
In truth, it was simply two leaders who actually like each other behaving like grown-ups who do not need permission slips.
Our ambassador of perpetual grievance
Contrast this with Rahul Gandhi, whose relationship with India seems more fraught than Putin’s with Nato. Where Putin says India got lucky, Rahul insists abroad that India is unfortunate, unfree, and collapsing under unemployment, fascism, and bad Wi-Fi.
Where Putin describes Modi’s integrity, Rahul alleges the Prime Minister is the architect of every disaster not yet invented. And while Putin claims Modi lives and breathes India, Rahul insists the government is suffocating India – usually from a conference hall in Berlin, Cambridge, or some clandestine foreign retreat where visas are stamped but accountability is not.
Doomsday pundit
Putin strengthens defence, trade, and technology ties. Rahul strengthens panel discussions on how India is becoming the next Hungary, Turkey, or even North Korea.
Putin talks of India as a rising power. Rahul talks of India as a falling democracy. Putin praises India’s leadership. Rahul warns Europe that India is a danger to democracy.
India’s image: who builds and who breaks
There is a global contest underway. India is betting on capacity, capability, and ambition. Putin calls Modi reliable. Rahul calls India troubled. World leaders say India is ascendant. Rahul says India is collapsing, but eagerly seeks more foreign speaking slots to describe a collapse that stubbornly refuses to arrive.
One nation, two narratives
India wants to be seen as stable, strong, and self-confident. Putin reinforces that image. Rahul undermines it with missionary zeal, as if eliciting foreign disapproval will achieve what the ballot box refused to do.
The contrast is stark: one leader spends time convincing the world that India deserves respect; another spends time convincing the world that India deserves sympathy.
National purpose
When Putin says India got lucky, he is talking about leadership, coherence, and national purpose. History has seen visionary oppositions. India, unfortunately, has one who travels abroad to complain that its country is not worth defending.
And when a foreign leader praises our prime minister, it feels less like diplomacy and more like an intervention – a reminder that nationhood cannot be outsourced, not even for frequent-flyer miles.
