UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed immediately agreed to the proposal of building BAPS temple in Abu Dhabi: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday at the 'Ahlan Modi' event in Abu Dhabi said UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed immediately said yes to the proposal to build BAPS temple in Abu Dhabi.

"In 2015, when I presented to him (Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed) the proposal to build a temple in Abu Dhabi on behalf of all of you, he immediately said yes to it...now the time has come to inaugurate this grand (BAPS) temple," the Prime Minister said.

The temple which is the first stone temple in Abu Dhabi has been built by the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha on a 27-acre site in Abu Mureikhah, near Al Rahba off the Dubai-Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed Highway. It is set to be inaugurated on Wednesday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will lead a dedication ceremony.


After greeting the thousands-strong audience at the 'Ahlan Modi' event with a 'Namaskar' amid chants of 'Modi, Modi' at the Zayed Sports City Stadium, Modi said he was overwhelmed by the affection at the community programme.

"You have scripted history by coming in such large numbers here here. You may have come from different parts of UAE and from different states of India, but everyone's hearts are connected," Modi said.

"This is the time to hail the friendship between India and the UAE. In this historic stadium, every heartbeat echoes the same sentiment- Long live Bharat-UAE friendship," Modi said at the event that began with national anthems of the two countries.

"I have come here with a message of your brothers and sisters from over 140 crore Indians that India is proud of you," he said.

Recalling his first visit here in 2015, Modi said he was new to the central government at that time and it was the first UAE visit by any Indian prime minister in three decades.

"In ten years since then, it is my seventh visit to the UAE," Modi said.

What India & UAE have achieved in community and cultural relations is a model for world, the Prime Minister said. PM Modi spoke a few sentences in Arabic to highlight how many words spoken in India have links to the language.