Modi US visit: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s State visit to US from June 21 to 24 at the invitation of US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden includes slew of programmes including an address to gathering of leaders from across the country and address to the Indian diaspora.
Modi’s events will be invitation-only gathering and the PM’s address to the Indian diaspora will be at a relatively modest gathering in Washington DC because of his tight schedule, dashing the hopes of community leaders who had hoped to organise a gala event. Only a select invitation-only gathering of nearly 1,000 people will be able to attend.
PM Modi, during his earlier visits to the US and he attended mega events of Indian diaspora in Madison Square Garden in 2014 and in Houston in 2019. At both these events, Modi was greeted by a rapturous crowd of tens of thousands of Indian diaspora, displaying enthusiasm and pride unseen before. While PM Modi has visited the United States six times since 2014 for official visits and to take part in multilateral engagements, this is his first state visit. The state visit is the highest form of diplomatic exchange between two countries.
During the earlier visits, entry to PM Modi’s public events in the U.S was through tickets. But this time, it is by invitation only.
With the Indian diaspora numbering nearly 4.5 million and spread across the country, its members expect the prime minister to connect with them in major cities, and he has been speaking to them in different US cities during his visits.
Indian Americans are expected to travel to the US capital in large numbers to witness the official welcome ceremony for Modi on June 22, a day after he leads a Yoga Day event at the UN headquarters in New York, soon after he lands in the United States.
