Nearly 1,000 people of the Indian diaspora, including Sikhs, Gujaratis, Telegus, Tamils and Maharashtrians will fill up the Atrium of the Ronald Reagan building in Washington on June 23 evening for the community event of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, just two blocks away from the prestigious White House.
This diaspora event may have been much bigger and grander in a stadium in the city of Chicago but for the rather late confirmation of Modi’s ‘official state visit’ dates by the White House and the tight schedule of PM Modi given his onward visit to Egypt, News18 has learnt. Modi on earlier US trips held big diaspora events at the Madison Square Garden and in Houston.
“We had booked two stadiums in Chicago — the United Centre, which is the largest arena in the US, and the Soldier Field stadium — much in advance on getting first indication in this January of a PM Modi visit to the US,” Dr Bharat Barai, Chairman of the US India Community Foundation (USICF), which is organising the diaspora event, told News18 on the phone.
Barai said he was the principal organiser of Modi’s Madison Square Garden event in 2014. With Modi already holding diaspora events in New York, San Jose and Texas, Houston in his earlier trips, the choice this time was expected to be Chicago. “The indication was that the trip could be between June 15 and 20 so we booked the United Centre,” Barai said.
He said the US administration, however, then got busy with the state visit of the South Korean President in April and no confirmation on dates of PM Modi’s visit was forthcoming from them. “We booked the Soldier Field stadium too as a back-up. Both these stadiums can hold 40,000-45,000 people. We held these stadiums till April but had to give up both as dates were not being confirmed by the White House,” Barai told News18.
It was on May 10 that the White House announced PM Modi’s visit but only a state dinner on June 22 was announced and the detailed programme was still not known till last week of May, Barai said. On May 29, Barai says he met Indian Ambassador to the US and also spoke to foreign minister S Jaishankar to request time for the PM’s community event. “They were supportive but we were told that the PM is flying out to Egypt on June 23 evening and his last event ends at 6 pm,” Barai said.
This meant there was no time for the PM to fly from Washington to Chicago for a diaspora event. Barai said with help of the government, they were able to carve out a two-hour slot for the diaspora event in Washington from 7 pm to 9 pm on June 23. “Most hotels in Washington do not have a capacity of more than 1,000 people. We had just three weeks to arrange everything. The atrium of the Ronald Reagan Centre has a 1,000-capacity seating so it was finally chosen,” Barai says.
He said the PM has been gracious enough to even slightly delay his departure to Cairo to meet the Indian diaspora and address them. The USICF is leaving no stone unturned to turn the diaspora event into a big success and has invited Indian-Americans from across the US. The crowd of a 1,000 people will reflect population of the Indian diaspora in the US and as many as 60 Sikhs could be a part of the event, he said.
Some prominent Indian-Americans will have a chance to greet the PM during the ceremonial welcome at the White House Lawns on June 22, where many of them have been invited. Some have been invited to the state dinner too. The PM is also meeting some members of the Indian diaspora along with CEOs during the event at the Kennedy Centre on June 23.
The historic trip to the US, the second by an Indian PM on an official state visit, begins with him departing around 7 am on Tuesday morning. He will reach New York on Tuesday afternoon and will hold meeting with ‘thought leaders’ such as scientists, think tank heads, academicians Nobel laureates and cultural leaders in New York for the rest of the day.
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