PM Modi’s 2026 Kuala Lumpur visit highlighted India–Malaysia cultural ties, diaspora engagement, and a special Odissi performance, reinforcing diplomacy through art, heritage, and people-to-people connection.
Ramli Ibrahim
The hugely popular Prime Minister of India, the Honorable Narendra Modi, was given a stupendous reception by the Indian community of Malaysia when he arrived in Kuala Lumpur on 7 February 2026.
Modi Ji was accorded tremendous adulation, even more than that of a rock star!
In his effective speech in English, Modi Ji said he was unable to attend the 2025 ASEAN Summit in Malaysia, but he wished to make up for it by visiting Malaysia now.
Both Heads of State were greeted by a welcome dance performed by more than 800 Malaysian dancers in different costumes of Indian classical and folk dances.
The PM gave a rousing welcome speech and iterated the continuous cultural link from the hoary past, significantly, even mentioning the Bali Jatra of Odisha, to emphasise his point!
Modi Ji gave an amazing speech, extempore – in English, full of wit and sense of humour, appreciated by his adoring audience. Thunderous applause punctuated his speech that covered relevant topics of shared areas from culture, languages, food, to social, economic, and political ties.
It turned out there was a request for me to perform the next morning, at Sri Perdana, Putra Jaya, for an exclusive early lunch given by our PMX, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, in Modi Ji’s honour.
I decided to perform a brief excerpt of the Odissi Mangala Caranam, sung in praise of Ganesha, Remover of Obstacles, by my Guru, the late Debaprasad Das.
This was the dance performed by the famous danseuse, the late Indrani Rehman (who took me under her wings in New York), accompanied by Debuji. The late Indrani had performed this dance in front of John F Kennedy, Khrushchev, Chow En Lai, Queen Elizabeth, Gamal Abdul Nasser, and other Heads of state, in the late 50s and early 60s.
She had performed in all the 5 continents of the world and contributed to the popularisation of Indian classical dances, especially Bharatanatyam and Odissi.
And now, serendipitously, I, too, have the opportunity to perform it for Modi Ji and the Malaysian PM, Anwar Ibrahim.
Perhaps, I might be the only one who would have realised the subtle connection of past events through this dance.
But, this is exactly the power of Arts & Culture that bridges, not just nations and communities, but catalyses people to people connect, which wraps us in soft ties of the many civilised and splendoured threads of Rasa and Beauty that promote the human civilisation.
“We gave him the Padma Shri!” Modi Ji declared to Anwar as he shook my hand as both of them came up the stage to congratulate us.
I was speechless but must have smiled enigmatically.
(The author is a Kuala Lumpur based world famous Odissi dancer and choreographer, who is a recipient of Padma Shri in India. Views expressed are Personal.)
