PM Modi's US visit: Indian-American community plans grand reception for PM Narendra Modi

NEW YORK: As Indian-American community is gearing up to host Prime Minister Narendra Modi this Sunday at the iconic Madison Square Garden here, the organisers today announced an elaborate programme for almost day-long event including a 360-degree rotating platform for him to address over 16,000 general public and about 2,600 VIP guests.

The VIP guests would include elected officials of Indian origin including South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, although some others including Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal may not be able to come due to intense election season currently underway in the US.

Besides the main venue, there would be at least 50 other locations across the country where special arrangements have been made for live telecast of the Prime Minister's speech and other events that include a nearly two-hour long entertainment programme.

There is a tremendous interest in the community in the US-India relationship and the event at Madison Square Garden has been oversubscribed by more than 10,000 people, the Indian American Community Foundation said.

"Last minute requests to attend the event were coming in at the rate of hundreds per day," said Indian American Community Foundation (IACF) President Bharat Barai.

At 16.4 per cent, Indian-Americans are the third largest Asian-American group in the US, numbering 2.8 million strong, which is almost 1 per cent of the US population. It is also one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the country.

As per estimates, the average median household income of Indian Americans is USD 88,000 as compared to USD 66,000 for other Asians and USD 49,800 for the total US population.

The percentage of Indians with higher education is also higher than other Asian ethnic groups.

"The diaspora will also be traveling from forty eight American states and five Canadian provinces to participate in the event," said IACF spokesperson Anand Shah. IACF is a not-for-profit organization set up especially for this event and has brought together 450 other Indian organisations in the US to organise it.

Berai said that the Indian-American community shares a strong emotional bonding with the Prime Minister, especially because of his rise from a humble background to this level on the promise of a development model.

He said that he has been told that the Prime Minister would mostly speak in Hindi, while some parts of his speech can be in English.

Shah said that special arrangements have been made for this event at the Madison Square Garden, which is generally used for various games including boxing, ice hockey and basket ball matches. The Garden doors will open at 8.30 am and the program was expected to continue till 3.30 pm approximately.

However, people are expected to start coming in even earlier due to huge queues expected and the entry will be allowed till 11.20 am. The programme will start at 10 am, while Modi was expected to arrive at around 12 noon.

His speech is expected to be around one-hour long. Shah said that various agencies are involved to ensure fool-proof security at the event and everyone would be required to undergo security checks including by their passage through metal detectors.

While declining to disclose the costs involved in organising this event, Berai said the funds were only enough for holding this programme and a decision to decide on the charity for transfer of any surplus funds would be taken afterwards by a committee.

The organisers also asserted that tickets were given for free on lottery basis for general public while VIP guests include elected officials of the US, the delegation coming with the Prime Minister from India and other high profile invited guests.