NEW YORK, Sept 28: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today told a rapturous crowd of NRIs that Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) cardholders will get lifetime Indian visa and that American tourists will be given visa on arrival.
Modi, who arrived at the packed Madison Square Garden to a rousing welcome, announced the merger of PIO and Overseas Citizens of India schemes to facilitate hassle-free travel to the Indian diaspora.
He announced that PIO card holders staying in India on long-term basis will no longer have to report to the local police station.
Prime Minister Modi affirmed that India will move ahead at a rapid pace and lead the 21st Century world.
At the unique event in the heart of Manhattan at which some 20,000 cheering NRIs were present, Modi said that his big win in the Lok Sabha elections had come with a big responsibility for him which he would fulfil.
Listing out India’s advantages, the Prime Minister said that its three strengths were democracy, demographic dividend in which 65 per cent of its population was under 35 years, and the demand for India because it was a huge market.
“My effort is to make development a mass movement. I am confident is that we will succeed. There is cause for disappointment. This country is going to make rapid progress.
“There are many expectations from the new Government. This Government will be 100 per cent successful in fulfilling the aspirations of people,” he said amid loud cheers.
“My dream is to see every Indian family has a home by 2022,” he said.
Clearly with an eye on the younger generation, Modi said, “We will not do anything which will let you down.”
Attired in a saffron Nehru jacket and yellow kurta, the Prime Minister held the packed indoor stadium spellbound, asserting that “Our attempt is to make development a peoples’ movement.”
In his 75-minute-long speech in Hindi which he began with ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ while extending greetings for Navratri festival, Modi promised good governance, saying after a gap of 30 years India has got a Government at the Centre with a clear majority.
He also had a jibe at poll predictions in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. “No political pundit or opinion makers could fathom such a verdict,” he said.
“Winning elections is not about any post or chair. It’s a responsibility. Since taking over (as Prime Minister), I have not even taken a 15-minute vacation,” he said.
“You may not have voted in 2014 but I am sure that when the results were coming, you didn’t sleep and you all celebrated,” he told the NRIs.
Promising a fast pace of development, Modi said, “There is no reason to be disappointed. India will progress very fast and the skills of our youth will take India ahead.”
“The 21st Century will be that of India. By 2020, only India will be in a position to provide work force to the world,” he said, while citing examples of growing global demand for nurses and teacher.”
“We are a youthful nation with a very old culture,” he said.
Recalling that Mahatma Gandhi turned the freedom struggle into a mass movement, Modi said at that time every Indian felt part of the crusade for the country’s independence.
Contrasting an imagery of a computer mouse with snakes, Modi said India was considered in the foreign soil as a nation of black magic and snake charmers but now it is different.
“Our ancestors used to play with snakes. We play with mouse. Our youths move the mouse and the shake up the world,” he said.
“Today India is the most youthful nation of this world. Today 65 per cent population of the country are below the age of 35 years. What more asset a nation requires whose 65 per cent population is below 35 years of age.
“A nation, whose youths are committed to make the future of the country, will not have to look behind. This country is going to progress with the support of the youths,” he said as the crowd continuously cheered him.
On his ambitious mission to rejuvenate Ganga river, Modi said, “People ask me that why have I taken up a difficult task like cleaning of the Ganga. But I tell them people of India have not chosen me for doing easy jobs.”
Referring to India’s successful Mars Mission, he said the cost of travelling in an auto in Ahmedabad is Rs 10 per km but the 65 crore km journey to Mars cost just Rs 7 per km.
He took at a jibe at the previous UPA dispensation, saying that during the Lok Sabha polls they were taking credit for introducing various new laws where as “I would be happy if we do away with one archaic law a day”.
Making a pitch for involving people in development process, he said, “my clear view is that Governments along cannot bring development. At the maximum, the Governments can launch only schemes.
“Development happens when there is public participation. The erstwhile Governments had taken the onus of development only on themselves. We adopted the path of involving all,” he said.
Attended by Indian-Americans from across the country and also from five provinces in Canada, this was the largest ever public reception to an Indian Prime Minister in America, a fact acknowledged by Modi himself.
“No Indian leaders have ever received this kind of reception. I am indebted to you. I will repay this debt. I will fulfill your dreams of India,” Modi said amidst thunderous applause from the audience.
Modi’s address, which was also attended by Congressmen and Senators, was preceded by a cultural extravaganza with performances by among others singer Kavita Krishnamurthy and her violin maestro husband L Subramaniam.
An artist painted a huge portrait of Modi on the stage while the duo’s performances were on.
A Gujarati garba dance performance kickstarted the grand rockstar-like reception of Modi hosted by Indian-Americans. Indian-origin news anchor Hari Sreenivasan and Miss America Nina Davuluri anchored the event.
A photographic collage of eminent Indian-Americans were shown. Also images of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Swami Vivekananda and Satyajit Ray were shown.
The speech was beamed live at the iconic Times Square and was watched by Indian Americans in ‘Modi Watch Party’ ranging from universities to small cities to community centers.
For the convenience of Indian American, the speech was not only telecast live, but also carried English subtitles in a real time basis.
On social networking site Twitter, “#ModiAtMadison” was among top trending hashtags as Modi addressed a rapturous crowd of NRIs at the Madison Square Garden here.
It was free for all on Twitter as Modi spoke for over an hour generating numerous tweets in favour and against his remarks.
Opinions on his speech varied from people calling it “splendid”, “captivating” to even “pathetic”.
The hashtag was used by thousands of Twitter users, most of them Indians.
While “#ModiAtMadison” was trending the most, the second one for quite some time was “#RajdeepSlapped”.
The hashtag was about the incident in which leading TV anchor Rajdeep Sardesai was heckled apparently by pro-Modi supporters outside the Madison Square Garden, shortly before the Prime Minister’s address.
Modi today used the metaphor of cost of travel by auto in Ahmedabad to the expenditure incurred in the landmark Mars Orbiter Mission which India accomplished in the very first attempt.
“Everything about Mangalyaan is indigenous. We reached Mars at a smaller budget than a Hollywood movie,” he said adding “India is the only country to reach Mars on its first attempt. If this is not talent, then what is?”
India had on September 24 created space history by successfully placing its low-cost Mars spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet in its very first attempt, catapulting the country into an elite club of three nations.
At just USD 74 million, the mission costed less than the estimated 100 million USD budget of the sci-fi blockbuster “Gravity”.
India’s MOM is the cheapest inter-planetary mission, costing a tenth of NASA’s Mars mission Maven that entered the Martian orbit on September 22.
With the success of “Mangalyaan”, India became the first country to go to Mars in the very first try. European, American and Russian probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet, but after several attempts.
Modi had witnessed the operation along with the space scientists in ISRO headquarter in Bangalore.
Modi said that around Rs 1,500 crore has been deposited so far in banks under the Jan Dhan Yojana even though people could have opened new bank accounts with zero balance.
The ambitious ‘Pradhan Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana’ launched by the Government last month, is aimed at opening at least one bank account for every family in the country in a period of less than six months.
The Prime Minister said that about four crore new bank accounts have been opened already under the scheme.
He also noted that more than half of the families in the country does not have a bank account.
While people could have opened the accounts with zero balance, they have “deposited Rs 1,500 crore” under the scheme, he said.
Modi also said that his Bohra Muslim brothers know what money lenders can do to people. Bohra Muslims are mainly into business. While launching the scheme on August 28, the Prime Minister had said it was aimed at eradicating financial untouchability by providing bank accounts to the poor.
On the inaugural day, a record 1.5 crore bank accounts were opened across the country, the largest such exercise on a single day possibly anywhere in the world.
The scheme would cover 7.5 crore people by January 26, 2015, who would be provided zero-balance bank account with RuPay debit card, life insurance cover of Rs 30,000 in addition to accidental insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh.
Later the account holders would be provided an overdraft facility of up to Rs 5,000.
Earlier, Indian-Americans from across the nation gave a “rock star” treatment to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the prestigious Madison Square Garden in the Big Apple, where nearly 20,000 strong gathering of Indian Diaspora welcomed the Indian leader.
Shouting slogans like ‘Narendra Modi Zindabaad’, ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Welcome Modi’, Indian-Americans started arriving at the venue since early in the morning. People were seen waiting in long queues.
By 9 pm a large number of people were dressed in Modi T-shirt with portrait of Modi on it. Many were holding banners and slogans like ‘America Loves Modi’.
Some 20,000 people packed the Madison Square Garden for the largest event of its kind for the Indian-American community organised by the recently formed Indian-American Community Foundation (IACF), and supported by more than 400 Indian-American organizers from across the country.
“He is a rock star,” said young college going Deepa Kaur.
“We have a lot of expectations from him,” she said.
Never seen before, the organisers had lined up a number of cultural events including popular songs, folk dances. People were seen dancing to the tune of these cultural events.
More than 200 media, a significantly large number of them from India, had registered for the event; which organisers said is unprecedented for an Indian American event.
“He is the first Prime Minister who is connected to the NRI (non-resident Indian community). That’s why you see such a large number of people. We filled up the seats in just two weeks. It has never happened in the history of the Madison Square Garden that seats gets filled up some three weeks before the event,” said Anil Sharma, one of the volunteers of the event.
In fact, more than 2,000 volunteers worked day and night for the past three weeks to make he program a success.
“It’s Modi Mania,” said Ankit Patel. “It’s a life time event,” he said.
In fact the event attracted some three dozen Congressmen including several power lawmakers like Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, and Congressman Ami Bera.
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal were also present. A huge contingent of Indian-American corporate leaders and IT professionals came in from the Silicon Valley for the mega event.
The New York Times in a headline ‘Indian Leader Narendra Modi, Once Unwelcome in US gets a Rock Star Reception’ story today wrote Modi will receive a rally fit for a rock star.
Modi’s fans were seen carrying the Indian tricolour and wore traditional Indian garb with several groups of performers carrying drums and ‘dhols’ to give him a rousing welcome.
There was also a group of Tibetan women carrying banners in support of Modi.
Strict security arrangements are in place with police barricades at several locations.
There is also a large group of anti-Modi protesters who have gathered outside the garden shouting slogans against the Prime Minister.
They are carrying banners reading “Modi – visa still denied”, “Wanted Narendra Modi for crimes against humanity”, “India must end oppression of minorities”, “Hindutva will destroy India” – led by the Alliance for Justice and Accountability.
Robindra Deb, an anti-Modi protester said, “We have gathered outside Madison Square Garden to remind the people of what happened in 2002 (Gujarat riots) under Modi’s governance. Modi needs to be held accountable. Not the entire Indian American community supports him”.
Besides the main venue, there would be at least 50 other locations across the country where special arrangements have been made for the live telecast of the Prime Minister’s speech and other events that include a nearly two-hour-long entertainment programme.
At 16.4 per cent, Indian-Americans are the third largest Asian-American group in the US, numbering 2.8 million strong, which is almost 1 per cent of the US population. (PTI)
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