He walks with zebras, watches lions get MRIs, comes face to face with chimpanzees. Is there anything this man, who as a teenager did battle with a crocodile, cannot do?

That’s the breathless tone of news stories as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated Vantara, the controversial animal rescue centre in Gujarat’s Jamnagar run by his friends, the Ambanis. 

Modi had “heartwarming interactions” with animals, we’re told. He “walked among the zebras”, “fed a giraffe”, “bonded with a rhino calf who was orphaned after her mother’s death”. He even “observed a submerged hippopotamus”.

Which other prime minister can claim to observe such things?

Next he “sat face to face with a golden tiger” and “four snow tigers who were brothers”. He “patted an okapi” and “came face to face with a chimpanzee”. He “hugged and lovingly played with an orangutan”. He “released parrots”. 

What else?

He fed a white lion cub. He held some other sort of cub. He saw a large python. He looked at a two-headed snake. He observed a two-headed turtle. He witnessed elephants “lazing in their jacuzzi”. He even – are you ready? – high-fived a lion, we’re told.

Is it any wonder that Vantara last week received the ‘Prani Mitra’ National Award, India’s “highest honour in animal welfare”, from the government of India? This even though it’s barely been a year since it was announced and days since it was inaugurated.

It doesn’t matter if unemployment is up and the markets are down. If you’re a media organisation that depends on ads to survive – ads from the government and from companies that run projects like Vantara – you might need to join this chorus of adulation.

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