Modi will deal with a rally of 18,000 supporters in Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena within the night — and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will make an look in help of the Hindu nationalist chief.

Australia and India have a fantastic “strategic alignment”, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles mentioned.

“It really does afford the opportunity to take the relationship to the next level,” he informed the nationwide broadcaster ABC, echoing Modi’s personal phrases earlier than his arrival Monday on his first Australian go to since 2014.

Asked whether or not Australia would elevate India’s therapy of Muslims and different minorities, Marles declined to enter element a few deliberate Modi-Albanese summit in Sydney on Wednesday.

“Ultimately, we are both democracies and that very much underpins the way in which we see the world,” Marles mentioned, pointing to the 2 nations’ rising commerce and tightening defence relationships.

India is a “growing massive economy, there are great opportunities for us,” he mentioned.

By distinction, the US State Department earlier this month urged India to sentence spiritual violence, releasing a report that listed assaults towards minorities, together with Muslims and Christians on the planet’s most populous nation.

Rights teams say India’s 200 million Muslims have confronted elevated discrimination and violence since Modi and his Hindu nationalist BJP swept to energy in 2014.

On his go to to Australia, Modi will probably be tapping into the nation’s fastest-growing and second-largest diaspora, with 673,000 Indian-born residents residing within the nation of 26 million.

But there are “large pockets” throughout the Indian group who oppose Modi’s therapy of minorities, mentioned Bilal Rauf, spokesperson for the Australian National Imams Council.

“We are deeply concerned about his visit, and the manner in which he has been welcomed without any of the issues of concern in his own country being raised,” Rauf informed AFP.

“Those issues of concern relate to the very blatant and overt measures taken against minority groups, Muslims in particular, and people in Kashmir.”

“We’re hopeful that our leaders will raise it as an issue.”

Both international locations need an growth in two-way commerce, valued at Aus$46.5 billion (US$31 billion) final 12 months and set to rise after a free-trade deal got here into impact in December final 12 months.

Modi is centre stage in Australia after US President Joe Biden cancelled a deliberate Sydney summit so he may rush again to Washington and negotiate with Republican opponents on the US debt disaster.

It is the final cease on an Asia-Pacific tour throughout which Modi has regarded to say India’s position within the area.

Over the weekend, the Indian chief joined a Quad summit in Japan with the leaders of the United States, Japan and Australia, to counter Beijing’s rising assertiveness.

On Monday, he held a summit with 14 South Pacific states in Papua New Guinea — the primary go to to the Pacific nation by an Indian premier.

Jay Shah, a director on the India-Australia Diaspora Foundation, predicted “euphoria” at Modi’s stadium occasion in Sydney.

Asked about issues over the therapy of minorities in India, Shah mentioned he couldn’t perceive such claims being made about India.

“We respect all the diverse views,” he informed AFP.

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