'Howdy, Modi!' community summit to host 50,000 people in Houston

The Indian community in the US state of Texas, especially in Houston, are eagerly getting ready to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on September 22, where 50,000 supporters will gather to hear him speak.

The event, with the tagline 'Shared Dreams, Bright Futures', will shine light on the tremendous contribution of Indo-Americans in the US and the strong and lasting partnership between the US and India.

Houston, which has one of the largest concentration of over 500,000 Indian-American community in the US, is the energy capital of the world.

Excitement is building in Houston to host Prime Minister Modi, amidst expected crowd of 50,000 supporters at the sprawling NRG Stadium here, the organisers of the "Howdy, Modi!" event said.

The Texas India Forum, which is hosting the event, said that over 25,000 attendees, 1000 volunteers and 650 Welcome Partner organisations have already signed up for the Howdy, Modi! event on the very first week of its registrations.

"The community's excitement about this event has been palpable, with a very diverse set of volunteers signing up to help and a number of organisations stepping up, to host meetings at their facilities. We are pleased to have such widespread involvement from the community, said Jugal Malani, convener of the "Howdy, Modi!" organising committee.

"This will be the largest ever gathering of Indian-Americans and friends of India, with diverse representation from the region and across the country and for the convenience of the attendees, we are planning to mobilize over 300 buses to transport them from locations around the greater Houston area," Malani said.

The vibrant cultural programme before Prime Minister's address, will showcase Indian- American artists from Texas and elsewhere, and portray how the community is woven into the larger tapestry of American life.

It will involve broad-based community participation across the United States. Attendance for the event is free, but registration and passes are required. Registration for the event is open to members of Welcome Partner organisations until August 12.

Passes will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis and exclusively through an online process at the website. General registration will open on August 12, the organisers said.

Besides Indian-Americans, the local officials are also very excited about Modi's trip on the sidelines of the UNGA Session in New York from September 20-23.

This could be Modi's third major address to the Indian-American community after he became the prime minister in 2014 and the first after his re-election in May.

The previous two being at the Madison Square Garden in New York in 2014 and the Silicon Valley in 2016. Both the events were attended by more than 20,000 people.