Smithsonian official dodges queries about Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have won the hearts of the Indian American community in the US but he will have to work harder to win a place at the Smithsonian Institute just yet.

In India to promote an exhibition 'Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation' hosted at the iconic Smithsonian Institute, museum curator Masum Momaya Thursday dodged queries on whether Modi or his legacy would find space at the world's biggest museum.

"I mean I really can't say one way or the other. The process of choosing exhibition and its content is a detailed and a lengthy one... Usually it's towards the end of their career that we are able to even chronicle their legacy, so it's impossible to answer that question," Momaya said.

Momaya is touring India with select photographs of the exhibition at the Smithsonian Institute.

The exhibition includes a gown worn by First Lady Michelle Obama which was fashioned by a designer of Indian origin, Naeem Khan, to the turban of Balbir Singh Sodhi, a gas station owner from Arizona who was killed in a case of mistaken racial violence post 9/11.