Editorially commenting on Gujarat Chief Minister "Narendra Modi's Rise in India," influential New York Times said "His rise to power is deeply troubling to many Indians, especially the country's 138 million Muslims and its many other minorities."

"They worry he would exacerbate sectarian tensions that have subsided somewhat in the last decade," it said noting that in 2002, rioters "savagely killed nearly 1,000 people, most of whom were part of the Muslim minority" in Gujarat.