PM Modi to speak on diaspora’s role in India’s growth story at his community address in US

PM Modi to speak on diaspora’s role in India’s growth story at his community address in US

Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will speak on the role of the diaspora in India’s development during his address to Indian-Americans here next week, according to a community leader in charge of hosting the event. Modi is visiting the US from June 21-24 at the invitation of US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. They will host Modi at a state dinner on June 22. The visit also includes an address to the Joint Session of the Congress on June 22.

Chicago-based Dr Bharat Barai, who was at the Ronald Reagan Building venue in Washington DC on Wednesday to give final shape to the next week’s event, said that it is a sold-out event, with registration completed for all 838 seats.

“As far as the registrations are concerned, they are closed for the host committee as well as other people. We had an extraordinary response, all by word of mouth because we had only 838 seats. So there was no time and there was no capacity if we advertised outside,” Barai told PTI.

“We used the database that we had from the previous public meetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and even before we could contact the people, they contacted us and it’s all filled up,” he said.

Modi will address an invitation-only gathering of diaspora leaders from across the country at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Centre in Washington on June 23.

“The topic is going to be the role of the diaspora in the growth story of India. We want to see what we can do as a diaspora to help India and the people of India come up to the new place in the world,” Barai said.

Noting that the event will have very few cultural elements, he said the organisers want to make it primarily an engagement between the diaspora and the prime minister.