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Diwali came early to San Jose. Or, so it seemed going by the festive mood at the city’s SAP Center, an indoor stadium, where thousands of exuberant Indians turned up to hear Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sept. 27.
An estimated 19,000 people gathered hours before Modi arrived to a rapturous welcome to his first engagement with Indian-American community on the West Coast during his second visit to the United States since becoming Prime Minister in 2014.
“This was a lifetime opportunity to be present at the Prime Minister’s event; so we all left about four hours before the vent,” Sushmita Majumdar, a long time resident of Sunnyvale in Santa Clara County, said. She clarified, however, that she reached the venue much earlier than schedule because she was to give a group dance recital based on Vande Mataram song.
But both she and others like Subrata Majumdar, a computer software professional, said the majority of the people tried to reach the venue earlier, even if they were not performers, not taking a chance with possible traffic jams and delays.
An overwhelming majorly of the attendees at the venue were Indian-Americans who had reached there, not just from California but from states like New Jersey and New York as well.
During Modi’s first ever visit as Prime Minister in 2014, he addressed a mammoth community gathering at the iconic Madison Square Garden. The invitation for Modi’s meeting was infectious. Organizers said earlier that almost double the number of people that the SAP Center can seat, had applied from all over the U.S. for tickets. Many were turned away.
In a way, Modi’s community meeting in California was similar to the one he had in New York last year in terms of the size of the crowd, excitement among the audience, and most importantly, his famous punch lines laced with humor, optimism and sarcasm. The audience lapped them all up like they did in Madison Square Garden.
“A lot has changed in 25 years since I last came. I have experienced in California the vibrant image of India. The magic of your fingers on the keyboard has given India a new identity. You are forcing the world to change,” Modi thunderous applause, a frequent occurrence during his address. His more than hour-long address, took listeners from the history of India’s governance, or lack of it in the past several decades, to the new hope he is said to have generated among the poor through his various social welfare schemes by way of bank amounts for the poor, and Aadhar Card, a unique 12-dit ID for all people of India to help check corruption.
Asking the crowd for a certificate of his 16 months in power, Modi received a rapturous endorsement. “Did I live up to my promises, working day and night, and the responsibility that I have undertaken…Have I lived up to that?”
The crowd responded with “Modi, Modi,” a loud approval that the Prime Minister was on the right track.
“It is believed that the 21st century is India’s century. I have faith in the nation because India is youthful. (Because) 65 per cent of our population is under the age of 35,” Modi said towards the end much to the jubilation of the crowd. People stood up from their seats – threw up their hands in support and shouted “Hail to Modi.”
Outside the venue the atmosphere was not as electrifying.
About 100 pro-Khalistan protesters, those who were present, said, had gathered to decry Modi’s address. Supporters for the Sikhs for Justice, with anti-Modi and anti-India placards and banners in their hands stood outside the SAP Center where Modi paid compliments to Martyr Bhagat Singh who fought against the British.
Those words perhaps did not reach the ears of the protesters. Many of them displayed posters of Khalistan that read ‘India Go out of Khalistan.” The organizers hired a helicopter to fly one of such protest banners.
The Alliance for Justice and Accountability, a group opposed to Modi, said its demonstration was attended by around 3,000 protesters, according to police estimates.
Describing itself as a “large progressive umbrella group,” the AJA said several lawmakers had not attended the event, including Rep. Zoe Lufgren, and that Rep. Mike Honda, and candidate for Congress Ro Khanna had issued statements on the event.
Modi’s meeting was attended by a host of U.S. lawmakers, including Rep. Tulsi Gabbard from Hawaii, the first Hindu to be in the U.S. Congress.
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