As the Indian government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prepares to celebrate its first year in power, there is much to look back on.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spent every eighth day abroad since taking office in May last year. He has travelled to 16 countries in 11 months from Japan to Canada, and he will be in China this week.
Indian journalists discuss his unconventional diplomatic and sartorial style. US President Barack Obama also praised Modi's fashion sense during his visit to India in January.
Does Modi's sense of style and manner of interaction with international leaders reflect a new, more confident India? Or is Modi carrying an impossible burden on his richly draped shoulders, of marketing a confident India internationally while in fact it is being pulled down by the anachronistic mind-sets of his colleagues and cultural strife wrought on his fellow Indians by groups which share the same founding parent - the paramilitary Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh - as the BJP?
In his first outing abroad Modi was trying to deliver many subliminal messages. The messages included that he was a natural for his role, that under him India was going to turn the corner, and that after all the posturing and name calling of the election campaign, he was actually a leader with a global vision.
By giving Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a huge hug and playing the Taiko drums, he did this and much more.
This kind of greeting was repeated with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Obama. Modi held Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's hand and raised it as if wanting the Canadian prime minister to bask in and acknowledge the adulation from crowds.
The image being created is one of a powerhouse of a powerful and confident nation.
This has been lapped up in India where the public has grown up with leaders being understated on international platforms.
Previous Indian prime ministers did not travel as much. They stuck to protocol when greeting other leaders, which now many deem as being cold and officious and not representing what India brings to the table.
But the confidence and bonhomie that Modi has with international leaders is not practiced in his interaction with his Indian counterparts. This geniality with global leaders does not trickle down to his party members and fellow ministers. Modi comes across as being stand-offish, aloof and proud when dealing with them.
One would not be wrong to wonder what Modi, with his internationalism and modernism, is doing in a government where the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary states that marital rape cannot be construed as a crime because "marital rape, as understood internationally, cannot be suitably applied in the Indian context due to various factors, including level of education, illiteracy, poverty, myriad social customs and values, religious beliefs, the mindset of the society to treat the marriage as a sacrament."
BJP member of parliament Sakshi Maharaj recently blamed the recent earthquake in Nepal on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's visit to a holy shrine.
To many it seems that Modi is using his international bonhomie and sartorial style to cover for his colleagues' follies and his government's agenda. In such a scenario Modi has an uphill task of portraying the country in a positive light given what is going on here. This would be unfortunate because those who have elected Modi want to see him and India succeed.
The author is a freelance consultant whose focus lies in the areas of research and writing on socio-economic and environmental issues. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn