New York: Who would have thought of Narenda Modi as a rock star? But Saturday evening, the Indian Prime Minister shared the stage with top music stars like JayZ, Beyonce, Carrie Underwood, Sting and Alicia Keys and himself received rockstar treatment from a crowd of more than 65,000 at New York’s landmark Central Park as he talked about down-to-earth subjects like sanitation, health and global peace.
This was a coup for him in image building: He was able to reach out directly to a liberal audience of mostly young people without the filter of a critical media and break the stereotypes made of him. In a major departure from his practice, he spoke to them in English and could connect to them on the festival’s theme of fighting poverty and seeking justice, by articulating his ideas on these topics.
This was the biggest audience that an Indian leader has got in the US, adding hundreds of thousands of TV and Internet viewers to the more than 65,000 at the park, the soul of New York and its enchanting green lung in a skyscraper-dotted Manhattan.
A visitor from Delhi likened that to US President Barack Obama speaking at a concert in Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi or Lodhi Garden featuring Bollywood stars.
Other leaders who too beamed their messages at the assembled youths included UN Secretrary General Ban Ki-moon, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, Norway Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala but they were all dwarfed by Modi’s personality and the way he connected with the audience.
From the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi on August 15, India’s Independenc Day, where he first talked about it, Modi took his message of sanitation to Central Park, hailing people gathered there who are part of Global Citizen, an Internet-based global network of people fighting poverty and lack of sanitation across the world among other pressing issues.
“How are you doing in New York?” Modi, dressed in an off-white, half-sleeve kurta with a striking cobalt blue jacket — Modi has been changing his dress appropriate to every event and occasion — greeted the crowd in English after the comperes of the show, Global Citizen Festival, announced the arrival of a person who changed the sanitation facilities of Gujarat from one of the worst to one of the best.
“Namaste,” he said, adding that he was greeting people who were watching the show on TVs, smartphones, tablets and laptops as well. “I am truly delighted to be in an open front and not in a closed conference room.”
He drew repeated applause from the crowd speaking about poverty eradication and the importance of sanitation to health care. He seemed to pause and attune his message to the crowd. Modi said that the work today’s youth were doing on problems like sanitation and poverty would have deep impact in the times to come.
“I salute you, I repeat, I salute you,” he said as the crowd erupted in applause. “I am proud of you, your family is proud of you, your friends are proud of you.”
New York: Taking a swipe at the Congress-led UPA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the earlier governments would keep harping on the number of laws they have come out with, but he has made it his mission to get rid of the “maze” of “useless” ones.
Addressing a gathering of thousands of the Indian diaspora at Madison Square Garden, Modi said: “Earlier governments would keep harping that we have made this ‘kanoon’ (law) and that ‘kanoon’... I have started a new one — the old ‘kanoon’, I have thrown away the ‘bekaar’ (useless) ones.”
“It was like a ‘jaal’ (maze) of ‘kanoon’, if one gets in, then they cant get out. I have set up a committee to examine them. If everyday, I can end one law, then it will be an achievement,” he said to loud chants of “Modi, Modi”.
He said good governance should be of easy ways for the people, to fulfil the people’s needs in an easy, lucid way.
Modi had announced yesterday that PIO card holders will get lifelong visas. “There is even more to come,” he said smilingly.
He announced that NRIs staying in India for long had to visit the police station, and “there is no need for them to do that anymore”.
Modi said the government will join the People of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) schemes for the diaspora and a new scheme would be announced soon.
Dancers, drummers, conch-blowers and Tibetan Yak dancers created an impromptu mela-like atmosphere outside the Madison Square Garden as thousands gathered hours ahead of the reception for Modi yesterday.
The 18,500 people with the much-sought-after tickets to the event lined up in a queue stretching several street blocks, as others milled around in a futile hope for tickets.
Entertaining them were several groups. Women in glittering saris performed garba dance. Members of the Tibetan community put up a yak dance performance. Drummers beat out a frenetic rhythm and conch-blowers blew auspicious notes.
New Jersey Transit ran special trains for the people coming to the reception organised by the Indian American Community Foundation. And, PATH subway system switched to weekday service in order to increase train frequency to handle the large crowds of commuters.
Across the street from the Madison Square Garden, some groups banding together under the banner of Alliance for Justice and Accountability, held a protest with about 50 people. They carried signs denouncing Hindutva and demanding the reinstatement of the visa ban on Modi.
Further uptown, in Times Square which bills itself as the crossroads of the world, giant TV screens were to broadcast the reception for those who could not score the 18,500 tickets issued through a lottery for event.
IANs
