Thousands of fans yesterday readied for a public address by Narendra Modi during the first visit by an Indian prime minister to Australia in 28 years, with many arriving on a train decked out in the South Asian country’s national colors.
The so-called “Modi Express” saw more than 200 supporters board a train from Melbourne for the 12-hour journey to Sydney, singing and dancing in the carriages ahead of the event at a stadium in the capital’s Olympic Park planned for the evening.
“After a long, long time, such a phenomenon, such an excitement, such a wave has come, which is unparalleled,” one of the Modi supporters on the train, Rakesh Raizada, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Photo: Reuters
“This is a new revolution, you can call it,” Raizada added.
Modi, who claimed India’s widest electoral victory in three decades in the April-May polls, was greeted like a rock star in New York when he attended an event there in September, a welcome that the Sydney organizers hope to match.
More than 20,000 people, mostly from the Indian diaspora in Australia were to pack the stadium, although some have traveled from as far as the US, Singapore and New Zealand.
Modi’s trip Down Under — for the G20 leaders’ summit in Brisbane and a state visit — comes two months after Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s tour of India, during which the two sides sealed a long-awaited nuclear energy deal.
The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described Modi’s visit to Australia as part of its efforts to “re-engage” Australia and its businesses, and he is to address parliament in Canberra today.
The Indian leader is also set to meet with industry leaders and sign several agreements on narcotics control, social security, tourism and cultural cooperation.
There are approximately 450,000 people of Indian origin living in Australia, including many from the student community.
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