Narendra Modi’s India: A decade of popularity and polarisation
Many voters feel things have got better since he took office in 2014, but will people who are struggling back him in the country's general election?
In Mr Modi's constituency in the northern city of Varanasi, saree weaver Shiv Johri Patel says he's got many worries - but he's clear who's getting his vote.
"Mr Modi has done great work. We haven't seen poor people getting so many welfare benefits under any other government," he says.
Mr Patel says his sons can't find jobs and local middlemen have cheated him out of a federal government welfare payment - but he doesn't blame the prime minister.
"It doesn't matter if I get what I'm owed or not, I will still vote for him," he told the BBC.
Varanasi goes to the polls in the last round of voting before results day on 4 June.
At 73, Mr Modi remains a massively popular yet polarising figure, both in India and abroad.
Supporters claim he is a strong, efficient leader who has delivered on promises. Critics allege his government has weakened federal institutions; cracked down on dissent and press freedom; and that India's Muslim minority feels threatened under his rule.
"Mr Modi has very staunch admirers and very strong critics. Either you like him or you dislike him," says political analyst Ravindra Reshme.
Opinion polls have put Mr Modi comfortably ahead of rivals and his party is widely expected to form India's next government. (Caveat: polls have been wrong before and voters can deliver unpleasant surprises - even for popular leaders).
He has set a tough target for his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - winning 370 seats out of 543 in parliament, up significantly from 303 in 2019. This would mean not just retaining northern states the party swept last time but also gaining in traditionally tougher states for the BJP in the south.
As he targets a supermajority, Mr Modi is his party's biggest draw.
His face can be found everywhere - plastered on bus stops, billboards and newspaper adverts, or addressing televised election rallies.
When India hosted the G20 summit last year, Delhi was awash with posters of him welcoming world leaders. The event is held according to a rotating presidency, but the publicity campaign made it seem as if it was due to Mr Modi's efforts.
"Mr Modi turned it into a mega-event. In many ways, he has an understanding of what an event is about and how it should be used," brand-building expert Santosh Desai told the BBC earlier this year.
Mr Modi and his team have an excellent understanding of branding and narrative-control - he is highly visible but rarely anywhere journalists or citizens can ask him tough questions. He has never held a press conference in India since becoming prime minister, while the interviews he gives are rare - and he is rarely challenged.
RK Upadhya, a political analyst, says to become prime minister, Mr Modi had to overcome an image of him in the media "as someone who was responsible for the Gujarat riots". A Supreme Court-appointed panel later found no evidence that Mr Modi was complicit in the 2002 violence when he was the state's chief minister. More than 1,000 people were killed, mostly Muslims.
"So I think when he came to Delhi, he wanted to show [the media]: 'Look, I don't need you. I can connect with people without you'," Mr Upadhya says.
And connect he does: the septuagenarian is the world's most-followed politician on Instagram, and has 97.5 million followers on X (formerly Twitter). And it's not just digital - he also shares his thoughts in a monthly radio programme.
Almost all of his public interactions come across as carefully choreographed. Over the past decade, he has been photographed inaugurating countless projects, meeting supporters, snorkelling, and even meditating in a cave after the 2019 election campaign.
BBC
