With less than 24 hours to go before the unprecedented “community reception” for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Madison Square Garden, Manhattan is brimming over with excitement as expectations from Mr. Modi’s address to the Indian Americans from across this country are sky-high.
Despite a relatively slow start in getting its act together over organising the rock-concert-style event in the heart of the city, which was also marred by a few disputes between senior community leaders from Illinois and New York, the recently-formed Indian American Community Foundation appears to have pulled together a truly historic, celebrity-laden extravaganza for attendees.
Venue security has been one of the top concerns given the high-profile nature of the event, for which all 18,500 seats have been allocated after being massively oversubscribed, especially as attendees will include not only senior Indian officials but also a large number of U.S. Congressmen and Senators as well as top business leaders who will have to stand in line for an audience with the Prime Minister.
The IACF strongly recommended that visitors arrive early, even by 8:30 a.m., and said on its website PMVisit.org that doors would be closed by 11 a.m., after which entry would not be permitted.
No accessories are permitted for any attendees except a small clutch purse for women, and recording equipment of all kinds is banned as there will only be an official feed made available. Mr. Modi’s address will be telecast live through this feed across India.
His speech, which will begin around noon local time and go on for approximately an hour, will be telecast live on the giant screens down the street in Manhattan at Times Square and indeed across the nation where enthusiasts are said to be hosting “Super Modi” parties in the vein of Super Bowl parties, where sports fans come together to watch major football games.
The event, however, will not be without its detractors, as the Alliance for Justice and Accountability, a coalition of human rights groups focussed on getting justice for the 2002 Gujarat riots, is expected to be protesting in the immediate vicinity of the event venue at the same time as the festivities inside.
Organisers and Indian diplomats alike are also probably hoping that there is no compromise of security around the Prime Minister in the context of the $10,000 bounty that one human rights group, the American Justice Centre, has offered to anyone who could physically serve to Mr. Modi the summons issued against him by a federal court in New York on Thursday.
