Speaking from an Indian perspective, autocratic leaders seeking to be the badass to restore old empires don't emerge in a vacuum. Modi for example is a product of the RSS organisation, which has spread its ideology somewhat covertly at first and then openly after Modi came to power.
There is an actual populist aspiration here for many Hindus to be a 'superpower' who can call the shots internationally and bully smaller countries and communities. Much of this sentiment is further stoked by the narrative that Hindus have been oppressed throughout history by foreigners, and that the 'Hindu civilisation' deserves its revenge against the world, particularly Muslims.
This used to be something you talked about candidly at first, but is now nakedly apparent in every arm of the Hindu nationalist propaganda machine - from films to literature to music to lawmaking to judiciary and on and on. Today, every arm of the machine that is Indian society is advocating for a strongman, fascist, bullying attitude towards the world.
The 'strongman' image that Modi, Putin, and Jinping promote is emblematic of that ideology. Russia, China, and India all have a "Why can't we be like the Europeans in the colonial age?" aspiration that's barely contained in their PR speak. There is a strong sentiment that to achieve the quality of life the West enjoys, or to surpass it, we must follow the same methods the West applied to get there.
I could go on and on about this, but the gist is - this is far from the individual fantasy of the man who happens to be in power, at least that is the case in India.
