Over 10,000 sign up in first 24 hours for Modi's reception in US

Washington: Over 10,000 people have signed up in the first 24 hours of opening of the registration process to attend the community reception for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Silicon Valley on September 27.

Modi is scheduled to address Indian-Americans at the popular SAP Centre in San Jose.

An indoor arena in the heart of Silicon Valley, the SAP Centre has a seating capacity of 18,000, which the organizers said given the enthusiasm among the Indian diaspora would be full to its capacity.

"This is reflective of the great enthusiasm among Indian-Americans," said Khanderao Kand, convener of the Indo American Community of West Coast, created recently to organize the reception for the Prime Minister.

More than 500 Indian-American organisations have joined hands to host this reception.

The organisers are hoping for a repeat of the Madison Square Garden event in New York where Modi made a rockstar appearance last September, considering that California has the largest population of NRIs in the US, with a heavy concentration in the Bay Area. Registration for free tickets for the Modi's reception are currently on through these organisations.

General registration for individuals not affiliated with any of these organisations would be opened up in the first week of September.

Modi is scheduled to travel to San Francisco after addressing a high-level summit on sustainable development hosted by the UN on September 25, becoming the fourth Indian Premier to visit US' West Coast.

Modi's visit to San Francisco would also revive -- after a gap of four decades with the exception of the former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao in 1994 – the post-independence tradition of Indian prime ministers visiting the US cities other than New York or Washington DC.