Crowd-funding, mini-India: How Indian Americans are gearing up for Modi visit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the United States next week has raised a lot of excitement on either side. The Indian American community has decided to come together and crowdsource the money to organise an exclusive event in Washington to interact with Modi. No big business or corporate will be allowed to contribute money for the event, the organisers of the mega event told The Federal.

The event is organised by the US India Community Foundation.

“PM Modi is our leader, he represents India. It is an honour for us to organise an event for the Indian American community,” said Bharat Barai, a senior member of the Indian American community and one of the organisers of the event. “So, we decided that the entire money that will be used to organise the programme should be crowdsourced and no big business or corporate should be allowed to give money for the event.” 

Also read: Explainer: What’s special about PM Modi’s visit to the US this time?

According to the event organisers, an individual is allowed to contribute only up to $5,000. The limit was placed after some members of the community expressed willingness to donate as much as $50,000 each.

Vast range

“Our aim is to ensure more people can contribute for the event, which is why we limited the per-head amount. It was also decided that since PM Modi represents India, only individuals will be allowed to contribute to the event, not companies or businesses. The amount of donations varies depending on the financial condition of individuals. We have also received as little as $25 from people who cannot contribute more,” said Barai.

Barai further elaborated that a welcome event for Modi will be held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Centre in downtown Washington DC. It’s a historic building that has been the venue for several high-profile meetings and gatherings in the past. Here, Modi will speak for two hours on June 23. The topic is ‘The Role of Diaspora in India’s Growth Story’.

“Even though the Ronald Reagan building is a historic one and considered to be an extremely high profile venue in the US, we wanted a bigger place for the event. This place can seat 1,000 people, but due to the paucity of time, we went for it,” said Barai.  

Creating a ‘mini-India’

Members of the organising committee have decided that all the passes for the  event will be given to community members free of charge.

“Many volunteers are working for every event free of charge. We organise garba, yoga, mandir and cultural events, so these volunteers are working free of charge and helping us to organise these events. It has been decided to give 500 free passes to these volunteers so that they get an opportunity to meet and listen to PM Modi,” Barai added.

Also read: Economic ties at heart of Indo-US relations: Blinken ahead of Modi’s state visit

The remaining 500 seats will be given to representatives of different states. “We want to create a mini-India for the Prime Minister, so we have decided that the audiences should have representatives of all states,” he said.

Planning, coordination and delays

Members of the Indian American community had initially planned to host the event in Chicago in a bigger stadium that can accommodate at least 40,000 people. The organisers said they first heard about Modi’s possible visit to the US this March, but they were unable to get confirmation on the dates he would be available to interact with the diaspora. 

“It was because of procedural delays that we initially planned to book three different stadiums for three different dates that could accommodate 40,000 people. The initial dates given to us were June 17, June 24 and June 25. Since there was no confirmation until the end of April, we managed to get a place in Washington DC,” Barai pointed out.

Last time Modi was in the US, an event for community members was organised at Madison Square Garden in New York City. So, the organisers decided to hold an event this time in another city and ensure more people can take part in it.

“It was only in May that it was conveyed to us that we would be able to get only two hours for an event with Modi. Since June 23 is a Friday, most of the bigger places were already booked, but we managed to get the Ronald Reagan Building, which is close to the White House,” Barai said.

Foreign policy, an integral part of domestic politics

Political experts closely following Modi’s state visit believe that the visit is extremely important because foreign policy has become an integral part of domestic politics in India under Modi, and people also look closely at his foreign visits.

As Ashutosh Kumar, political science professor at Panjab University said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made foreign policy an integral part of domestic politics. People not only vote for Modi for his foreign policy decisions but also keep a keen eye on his foreign visits. The PM has managed to convince the people that the value of India’s voice has increased under his leadership. Also, earlier, state leaders used to play an important role in the Union government’s foreign policy decisions, but it is no longer so. Now, it is the PM alone who decides on issues of foreign policy and benefits from his decisions.”