A year after the iconic Madison Square Garden event in New York, preparations are afoot for a similar grand reception for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in California’s famed Silicon Valley when he visits the United States in September for the annual UN General Assembly session.
A host of Indian-American community organisers who have got together to make it a memorable West Coast show have zeroed in on the SAP Center in San Jose, a hugely popular venue that hosts about 100 sporting events annually and figures in the Top 5 in North America.
like the MSG, the SAP center also has a seating capacity of about 20,000.
“We had our launch meeting this weekend,” said Khanderao Kand, convener of the newly-formed Indo-American Community of West Coast USA. Community leaders from diverse backgrounds, be they entrepreneurs, physicians, motel owners or social organizations, will all be involved with the planning of the event.
As Kand put it, “The Indian-American community here is excited about the prospect of hosting Prime Minister Modi who will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Bay Area after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit back in 1949.”
The San Francisco Bay Area, of which Silicon Valley as the hub of innovations and startups is a critical part, is home to some half-a-million Indian Americans, making it the community’s foremost concentration in America.
Given the backdrop of Modi’s ‘Digital India’ initiative, the visit will go well beyond the community gala, with the Prime Minister expected to use the opportunity for interactions with the US tech industry to give a big push to his pet project.
No official announcement, however, has yet been made about the Prime Minister’s California sojourn.
Indian Ambassador to the US Arun K Singh addressed the organizing committee’s first meeting on Sunday from Washington DC by video conferencing. Venkatesh Ashok, the San Francisco-based Consul-General of India, also participated in the deliberations — as did Vijay Chauthaiwale of the BJP’s Foreign Relations Wing. “The event is a historic moment for the Indian community in Silicon Valley and the diaspora in general,” Chauthaiwale said after the meeting.