Since I have not lived in India for almost 25 years, I can only answer this as a perspective.

Note that as a US Citizen, I can neither vote in Indian elections, nor have any vested interest in the electoral outcome in India. Hence, objectivity!

I will narrate two stories to make my point. And I will not even use any boring statistics!

Story 1 –

A routine Uber ride in Washington DC, and an Afghani driver picks me up. After a few minutes, he asks me if I am Indian, I say yes, and he smiles and says that he loves Bollywood. I smile back. His next question, do you know when somebody will make a movie on Modi. I am a little shocked, not at the movie suggestion but that he would even know Modi. Anyway, I ask him why. His answer is that Modi is considered a magician in Afghanistan and Afghanis pray that they get a leader like him to make Afghanistan like India