If you were trying to convince 1 billion or more people about the merits of a new tax, would you use the theme music for infamous Star Wars villain Darth Vader?

India's chattering classes spent the day pondering that question.

On Sunday night, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held his arms aloft as the camera pulled slowly back, revealing the vast, cheering crowd at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi stadium.

But this was not a victory speech or a campaign rally.

The enraptured audience were India's chartered accountants, hearing Mr Modi exhort the benefits of a long-awaited goods and services tax.

"From July 1, 2017, we move forward in a new direction, with a new zeal and with a new pace," Mr Modi had thundered.

But more than Prime Minister Modi's sales pitch, it was his sign off, to the ominous score of Star Wars super villain Darth Vader that caught attention.

Music 'may have been found without awareness of Star Wars'

"In fact, it was my wife who pointed out: 'Did you just hear that music!?'" said Krish Ashok, who describes himself a "columnist, blogger, musician and huge Star Wars fan".

He could not decide if the choice was deliberate.

"If it was just some small kid who Googled for impressive sounding music, he might have found this music and without any context or awareness, could have just used it," Mr Ashok said.

"That's quite likely — not many people in India are aware of Star Wars."

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Media and technology website MediaNama's editor Nikhil Pahwa thought what he saw was a "spoof" until viewing the official version on the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) website.

ICAI staff told ABC News the event organisers were unreachable — taking a break after a busy few days.

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Mr Pahwa pointed out Mr Modi was famously tech-savvy, having used holograms of himself to address multiple rallies simultaneously during his 2014 election campaign.

And he has form.

On his first prime ministerial trip to the United States in 2014, he finished a New York speech with another Star Wars line, signing off: "May the force be with you."

"That was very popular, in the US, to see the Prime Minister of India use a very famous pop culture reference," said Mr Ashok, who thought it was more likely Mr Modi wanted to connect than express a love of science-fiction.

He pointed out the two references could also be a political metaphor.

"The funny thing is, as someone pointed out, that's a Jedi thing, and this is a Sith thing, and it only took three years to switch from Jedi to Sith," Mr Ashok said.

(For the non-Star Wars fans, that means to go from good guy to bad guy.)

Was it an attempt to go viral?

Mr Modi was in the US again last week, meeting US President Donald Trump.

Sorry, this video has expired Indian PM Narendra Modi goes in for a cuddle with Mr Trump (Photo: Reuters)

Mr Modi's supporters have in fact likened him to Mr Trump — both are nationalist leaders who have enjoyed success riding voter discontent with elites.

Both are also noted for their ability to distract from unwanted news.

The consumption tax rollout has so far gone relatively smoothly, but Mr Modi and his Hindu-nationalist party are currently weathering intense criticism for failing to deter mob violence, carried out by so-called cow-vigilantes, in the name of protecting sacred cattle.

Mr Ashok paused when asked if the music choice could be an attempt to create a viral moment.

"I wouldn't put it past them, this Prime Minister's office is fantastic at managing social media and at managing public perception," he said.

"Although in this situation, it looks like something the event organisers did and that's not the Prime Minister's office … and they may not have paid attention."

Mr Pahwa and Mr Ashok both agreed any distraction would be as short-lived as the attention spans of India's social media users.

"It's something that people will joke about for a day and then move onto the next thing, like happens on social media everyday," Mr Pahwa said.