‘Howdy Modi’: PM to Leave For Week-Long US Visit Today

On September 22, PM Modi will address the Indian diaspora in Houston at an event called 'Howdy Modi'. Sharing the stage with him will be President Donald Trump.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will, on Friday, depart for a week-long visit to the US, during which, among other commitments, he will address members of the Indian diaspora and participate in the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

His first engagement on this trip will be a meeting with CEOs of 16 major energy companies, in Houston, Texas on September 21. The highlight of the visit, however, will come on the next day when he will address over 50,000 members of the Indian-American community at the city’s NRG Stadium, in an event called ‘Howdy Modi’. Sharing the stage with him will be President Donald Trump, whose participation in the event was confirmed by the White House on September 16.

This was hailed by the Prime Minister as a ‘special gesture.’

The event will also be attended by over 60 US lawmakers. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat and the first Hindu member of the Congress, too, was scheduled to attend but had to pull out later due to prior commitments regarding her campaign to be nominated as the Democrats’ US Presidential election candidate.

Prime Minister Modi will next head to New York, where, on September 24, he will hold a bilateral meet with President Trump. On September 27, he will address the UNGA, for the first time since 2014. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, too, will speak at the UNGA and is expected to raise the Kashmir issue and highlight India’s ‘atrocities’ in the Valley.

India, on August 5, revoked Article 370 of the Constitution, thereby scrapping the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). It further bifurcated J&K into two separate union territories (UTs) of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.