Narendra Modi Draws a Crowd in Mumbai

If there were ever a doubt about Narendra Modi’s pulling power among businessmen, consider this: So many showed up at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel in Mumbai Wednesday for a Gujarat promotion event featuring the state’s chief minister that some had to watch it on video from another room and others had to wait in massive lines for lunch—and frequently reached the front of the line only to be met by empty serving dishes.

Reuters

Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, left, and Gujarat’s chief minister Narendra Modi, right, inaugurated the Tata Nano plant at Sanand, Gujarat, in June.

As the ever-gracious Taj staff rushed to refill the daal, paneer and assortment of pastries, the river of businessmen kept flowing. Almost twice the 250 expected at the event showed up, organizers said. Invitees were promised the chance to hear Mr. Modi’s address and stay afterward to talk business with his top lieutenants.

So many came that they couldn’t fit into the 250 seats set up in the Crystal Room and the overflow crowd of 200 had to watch Mr. Modi extol the virtues of Gujarat over video in another room. The state has developed a reputation for being able to do what most other regions of India cannot—streamline the process of setting up industries so they can rapidly build and expand. When the Tata Group ran into trouble building its Nano compact car manufacturing plant in West Bengal state two years ago, the company found a ready home in Gujarat.

Mr. Modi, addressing the audience intermittently in both English and Hindi, apologized to those who had to watch him on television, noting that interest in the western coastal state of Gujarat was at fever pitch compared to 2005, when only 80 people showed up at the first Mumbai event organized as a prelude to what has become a biennial business summit in Gujarat. The next one is scheduled to be held in January.

The state of Gujarat has been running a high profile media campaign called “Vibrant Gujarat,” showcasing the state as being the most business friendly in India. The state has hired a public relations firm, APCO Worldwide, with 50 people dedicated to promoting Gujarat as a business destination, company officials said.

Perhaps it was a sign of Mr. Modi’s national political ambition that he cast himself as not only looking out for Gujarat’s business interests—but also India’s.

Lapsing into Hindi, he said that he had been focusing his efforts on Gujarat but he wanted the entire country to benefit also from the summit. So he was inviting all states in India to attend the summit and he would help make business deals that would benefit them as well.

Then he returned to touting Gujarat, saying: “If you want to be with the times, you must be in Gujarat. If you want to be ahead of the times, you must be in Gujarat.”