Point taken on gestation period of narrative buildup.
I disagree on one aspect though. There was quite a lot of negative image of Modi before he became PM. US was not even ready to give a Visa. All that changed overnight when he became PM. Geopolitics don’t only depend on narratives but also realities of economics and few other factors. If narratives decided the fate then Israel would have been no more long time back.
Will wait and watch to see the results on ground. Till then it appears Modi all the way.
A few things I'll mention here.
First, yes the western media's negativity vis-a-vis Modi hasn't really translated into much politically, at least not yet. You can make a crude comparison with MBS of Saudi Arabia. He is someone that has been trashed non-stop in the media, yet the western states still line up to jerk him off. That is down to economics, like you mentioned.
Second, Pakistan will have more difficulty selling its India narrative than India did selling its Pakistan narrative. And that is quite bad, because objectively India has largely been unsuccessful in selling its narratives. The only victory of sorts is the FATF grey listing, but other than that all UN rulings or sanctions have been against non-state actors and had almost no impact on the state. This is after decades of selling the narrative across multiple governments.
Now, why do I think Pakistan will have more difficulty. The first reason, like you mention, is down to economics. India is a large economy and countries want access for trade relationships. Pakistan simply can't get to a similar size economy because its population is much smaller. Second, while India has been trying to sell its narrative for decades, most Pakistani governments didn't even try. The reasons for that are another discussion, but because of this Pakistan is working at a major disadvantage.
However, India has helped Pakistan here quite a lot by the events of Feb 27 and the incessant lying that followed, each of which were debunked not by Pakistani media but western media, the EU disinfo labs and now these leaks (at least things that can be discerned from these leaks). This has helped Pakistan build a narrative that at least on paper appears to be credible. Where this leads to, we'll see. I wouldn't expect to see results any time soon however.
