Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has endured the worst media coverage ever given to a visiting Indian politician.

Even a humiliated Indira Gandhi after the Emergency did not face the kinds of insults that have surfaced against Modi in the British media.

One daily newspaper has accused him of presiding over a genocide against Muslims in Gujarat. Most embarrassing of all have been the comparisons between Modi and such international villains as Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Slobodan Milosevic.

An indication of how Modi is now 'on message' from New Delhi following such disastrous media coverage became evident.

Asked at a press conference on August 18 if he had been "hurt" by the British media coverage, the chief minister smiled and said he did not read such reports. Modi was also asked if there was any room for Muslims in Gujarat. He responded, "We are 5 crore or 50 million Gujaratis. I have never used the term minority or majority. I used the word 'abhayam' (protection) for all. I also said the government is for everyone and not just for those who voted in favour of us."

Modi was most restrained when he was asked how he saw the future of India-Pakistan relations following his repeated attacks on Islamabad during his public speech at the Wembley Conference Centre on August 17.

Modi said he was being asked to respond to a loaded question, and denied he had even mentioned Pakistan at Wembley.

In actual fact, Pakistan came up repeatedly during Modi's speech at Wembley when the chief minister asked what Pakistan had gained after three wars with India.

Responding to his own question he told his audience of invited Gujaratis, "After they started proxy war by terrorism, they tried to divide Hindus and Sikhs in Punjab, in Jammu and Kashmir they have had no joy after 15 years of dancing with death."

He added that Mumbai's difficulties (a reference to the spate of bomb blasts in the city) and Gujarat's difficulties were all Pakistan's doing, and added that when Hindus were blamed for the bombing of a church, it turned out that Pakistan was actually behind it.