From Pōwhiri to Partnership: The New Zealand India Saw

For a few days, New Zealand was everywhere in India.

It was on newspaper homepages, television bulletins and social media feeds. There were images of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon welcoming Narendra Modi, videos of a Māori pōwhiri at Government House, clips of the Sky Tower lit in the colours of the Indian flag and, Prime Minister Modi flaunting a scarf his Kiwi friend had gifted 20-odd-years ago, and scenes of thousands of people filling Auckland’s Spark Arena.

For many Indians, this was a sustained look at New Zealand beyond cricket, tourism and study-abroad brochures. It was interesting how many of my friends and family who live in India continued to share the reels and posts highlighting PM Modi's visit with me constantly, throughout the weekend. It did tell me how much of the visit dominated their social media timelines too!

Coming back to the media reports, the recurring theme across media coverages was how Modi’s visit was historic in the most literal sense. It was the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 40 years, and that fact appeared in almost every report. But the coverage did more than mark the passage of time. Over the course of the visit, Indian audiences were introduced to a New Zealand of Māori tradition, political warmth, economic ambition, a confident Indian diaspora and, even uncomfortable questions.

The first images to travel widely were of the welcome. (PM Luxon met PM Modi when he arrived in Aukland. Photo from PM Modi's Instagram handle)

Clips of the pōwhiri were shared across news websites and social media platforms, often alongside footage of Luxon greeting Modi. The ceremony became one of the most recognisable moments of the visit, not least because many Indian viewers were seeing a formal Māori welcome up close for the first time.

The cultural references did not end there.

As per a Hindustan Times report, PM Modi explained ‘Waka’ as more than a canoe and quoting his description of it as “the symbol of our shared journey”. In his speech, Modi said the relationship between India and New Zealand was built on “memory, friendship, values and a commitment”, and used the waka as a metaphor for the two countries moving forward together.

That language travelled easily. It gave Indian readers something more memorable than the usual diplomatic phrases about strengthening ties and expanding cooperation. It also placed Māori culture near the centre of the visit rather than at its edges.

Another image that received its own story was Auckland’s Sky Tower glowing in the Indian tricolour. The report also paused to explain the landmark itself, telling readers that the 328-metre tower had been part of Auckland’s skyline for more than 28 years.

It was a small detail, but an important one. Indian coverage was not only reporting what Modi did in New Zealand. At times, it was also explaining New Zealand to readers.

Once the ceremonial welcome gave way to official meetings, the story shifted towards trade, investment and the newly announced strategic partnership.

The phrase “first in 40 years” remained everywhere, but the question quickly became: what would the visit deliver?

Business coverage was particularly interested in the Free Trade Agreement, the commitment to deepen investment and the target of doubling bilateral trade by 2030. In one report, that highlighted how Modi told India is a launchpad for global growth, it also focused on India’s growing middle class, digital economy and infrastructure drive, while also noting New Zealand’s commitment to invest US$20 billion in India over the next 15 years.

The relationship was presented as practical and future-facing. Education, agriculture, technology, tourism, defence and talent mobility all featured, giving Indian readers a sense that New Zealand was not simply a distant Pacific country, but a partner with specific strengths and opportunities.

The visit also reached well beyond India’s largest national newsrooms.

Like Karnataka-based Udayvani newspaper carried several reports around the visit. One of its reports highlighted how more than 10,000 members of the Indian community gathered at Spark Arena. Its report described the cheers, applause and repeated chants of “Modi, Modi”, while also carrying his remarks on indigenous cultures, the waka and the contributions of Kiwi Indians.

That regional coverage mattered. It showed that interest in the visit was not confined to Delhi-based political and business readers. The story travelled into state media too, where the community event, the size of the diaspora and the atmosphere inside the arena were as significant as the formal agreements.

Social media gave those moments an even wider life.

Short videos of the crowd chanting “Modi, Modi”, waving Indian and New Zealand flags and filming the two leaders on their phones circulated widely across Instagram, YouTube and X. The same feeds carried clips of the pōwhiri, Luxon and Modi embracing, and the Sky Tower in the tricolour.

These were the images many people saw before they read a single policy announcement. The visit unfolded in real time through ceremony, spectacle and community pride, not only through prepared statements.

The Indian diaspora became one of the strongest threads running through the coverage. Another news outlet, Awaaz, reported how Modi referred to the community as the “true navigators” of the shared journey and named prominent New Zealanders of Indian heritage, including business leaders, former Governor-General Anand Satyanand and cricketers such as Rachin Ravindra, Ish Sodhi and Ajaz Patel.

Several reports like this one focussed on Modi’s speech at the Spark Arena where he said ‘Indian cities are honoured in street and place names’ (Calcutta street, Bombay Hills, Khandala etc), there was a mention of how ‘India wants to learn more about Rugby from New Zealand’ and praised NZ’s sport technology.

For readers in India, these details offered a picture of a community that was not simply present in New Zealand, but firmly woven into its public life.

The politics of the visit also appeared.

Several reports touched on his talks with Chris Hipkins. Like this Deccan Herald report noted that the two discussed trade and people-to-people ties. The report emphasised the bipartisan nature of the relationship and presented the meeting as part of a broader effort to strengthen ties beyond the government of the day.

Another Deccan Herald report reached back into history, recalling former New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange’s role in reviving relations with India in the 1980s. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh described Lange as “a remarkable man who was key to transforming India-New Zealand relations”, drawing attention to New Zealand’s earlier contribution to India’s dairy sector and the establishment of AIIMS in New Delhi.

That historical piece added welcome depth. It reminded readers that the relationship did not begin with this visit, nor with the new trade agreement. There were older connections in agriculture, health, education and political exchange that had slipped from public memory.

Not every story, however, came from the official programme.

One unscripted moment became a headline in its own right when a New Zealand journalist asked Indian diplomats why Modi had not held a press conference.

Several media outlets reported about the question. The exchange was also widely shared on social media platforms

Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Rudrendra Tandon answered Modi preferred direct contact with voters rather than communicating through intermediaries. “Modi has perfected the art of direct contact with his electorate,” he said.

He also joked that ‘"Your question has that quality of déjà vu” - linking it to a similar question raised during Modi’s visit to Norway. According to reports, this was not the first time the issue came up during one of Modi's overseas visits. During his visit to Norway in May, a similar moment unfolded at a joint media appearance with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in Oslo.

It was one of the few moments in the Indian coverage where the focus moved away from partnership and celebration towards Modi’s relationship with the media. Its prominence also showed that Indian newsrooms were not interested only in the carefully staged parts of the visit. An unexpected question from a New Zealand journalist could travel just as quickly as a formal speech.

The visit was also watched beyond India and New Zealand.

A report from Taiwan’s Taipei Times, placed the visit within a wider regional context of defence, security and growing concern about China’s presence in the Pacific. The report highlighted closer defence cooperation, naval exercises and the two countries’ shared interest in a “free, open, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific”.

Seen from Taipei, the visit was not simply about trade or diaspora ties. It was part of a larger strategic story unfolding across the Pacific.

Reading Indian and New Zealand coverage alongside each other also showed how the same visit could look different depending on the audience.

Indian outlets mostly concentrated on the welcome, the agreements, the community event and what the relationship could become. New Zealand media covered those developments too, but also gave greater space to local reaction, security and protests.

The incidents where Khalistan supporters, anti-immigration protesters and pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered while thousands of Modi supporters made their way inside, were reported by the media in the country. Police maintained a gap between opposing groups as chants and signs filled the area.

Those scenes did not define the Indian coverage in the same way. They were not entirely absent, but they sat well behind the dominant stories of diplomacy, community and opportunity.

It was interesting how the visit demystified New Zealand for many Indians watching the news and for a few days, New Zealand was more than a distant Pacific nation in the Indian imagination. It was a country of pōwhiri and waka, of a Sky Tower glowing in the tricolour, of a large and visible Indian community, of trade ambition and strategic partnership. It was also a democracy where journalists asked difficult questions and protesters gathered outside a major political event.

No single headline captured all of that.

But taken together, the stories gave Indian audiences a richer picture of New Zealand than they are usually offered, and perhaps that was also one of the visit’s most lasting outcomes.

 -Asia Media Centre