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THE VILLAGE OF UDDANDARAYUNIPALEM, in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur district, was abuzz with activity on 22 October 2015. It was Vijaya Dashami, but a far more momentous celebration was being planned. After all, it was not every day that a new state capital was born. Nara Chandrababu Naidu, who had begun his third term as chief minister soon after the state was bifurcated, the previous year, had been adamant about replacing Hyderabad, which was now part of Telangana, with a greenfield city on the banks of the Krishna River, called Amaravati, or “the abode of the immortals.”
Having presided over the bhoomi puja—a Hindu ritual for breaking new ground—four months earlier, Naidu wanted the foundation ceremony to be a grand event, in order to attract investment for the project, which was expected to cost almost a trillion rupees. “Other states have been divided and built new capitals, such as Naya Raipur, Dehradun or Ranchi, but has any of their foundation ceremonies become international events like Amaravati?” he told The Hindu. “You cannot attract investments without investing in relationships. Once relationships are built, automatically investments will come.”
The guest list reflected those desired relationships. Narendra Modi, who had been sworn in as prime minister for the first time two weeks before Naidu took office, received top billing. Thirteen years earlier, following the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat, Naidu had demanded Modi’s resignation as chief minister. Even though his Telugu Desam Party had the ability to bring down the union government over the issue, however, it had not done so, parting ways with the Bharatiya Janata Party only after they lost the 2004 general election. The TDP had reunited with the BJP in 2014. While Naidu would later claim that the BJP alliance had not helped the TDP win additional votes, he needed the union government’s support in order to secure additional funds for Andhra Pradesh, which had lost the lucrative tax revenues provided by Hyderabad. As Naidu showed Modi around, he looked like a student in the presence of the school principal. The only people who did not appear deferential were the Brahmin priests, who ignored Modi while sprinkling holy water on the attendees.