“Time to talk is Over; It is the time to Act”
“Howdy Modi”
Tens of thousands of Indian-Americans gathered in Houston, on 22 September (7:30 pm IST), at an event cheekily called “Howdy, Modi!!” to celebrate the re-election of India’s fiery populist leader Narendra Modi and the two democracies shared new spaces of relationship.
President Donald trump was an invited guest of the event and played second fiddle in the event. As a person who never lets go of a crowd, Mr. Trump treated the whole gathering as his own and declared that “you have never had a better friend as president than President Donald Trump, that I can tell you”.
Big screen filled many parts of the stadium, displaying the face of Indian Prime Minister, who arrived on a red carpet with thunderous supportive cheers echoing all around the atmosphere.
Unlike any of his “Make America Great Again” rallies, there were no Trump signs among the crowd and even Trump mostly restricted himself to the prepared remarks or words, to which the crowd responded with polite applause. He mostly talked on his usual rally themes and bragged over the topics like slashing regulations, lowering unemployment, implementing a tax cut and hardening the nation’s borders against “those who would threaten our society”. He also added to his talk that Indian-Americans enrich the culture of US and also that the two countries are “grounded in our common values”. He praised Modi for his huge victory in the re-election and marveled at the nearly 60 million votes he gained during the same.
Prime Minister Modi, gave an over the top English introduction about Trump, during his talk, in the event. He declared in the introduction that Trump was “familiar to every person on the planet’ and that “his name comes up in almost every conversation in the world on global politics.” President was filled with pleasure with Modi delivering a twist to his own election slogan, “Abhki Baar Trump Sarkar” (This time, A Trump government).
Two leaders of same styles united in the event. Both the leaders came to power by embracing right-wind populism, portraying themselves as champions of masses fighting against an entrenched establishment, both have fanned tensions over religion, economic and social fault lines and both present to their own voters with goals to make their countries “great again”.
As per, M.R. Rangaswami, the founder of Indiaspora, Trump’s visit to the event was a make use of the opportunity to increase the 14% showing among the Indian-Americans in 2016 and on his advantage in the elections to come..
Mr. Modi, 69, is at his best outside India, in international presence, he is prioritized more than any other Indian leader in the recent decades. He increased the value of India’s brand in International presence and also projected a Muscular India and an emerging superpower. The goal of this trip is to attract investment to India, and there is a little extra urgency: India’s economy is suffering its biggest downturn in years.
Pic Source: Google and Fb images
