Modi hugs actor Hugh Jackman on stage during the Global Citizen Festival concert in Central Park on Saturday.

 

IANS/New York

 

PIO card holders will get lifelong visas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced yesterday to thousands of cheering Indian Americans at Madison Square Garden here.

“Happy?” he asked as the crowd cheered his announcement with chants of “Modi, Modi.”

“There is even more to come,” he said smilingly.

He announced that foreign nationals of Indian origin staying in India for long had to visit police stations, but “there is no need for them to do that anymore.”

He also said Indian missions in the US would grant long-term visas to US citizens and US tourists would get visa on arrival in India.

Taking a swipe at the former Congress-led government, Modi said the earlier governments would keep harping on the number of laws they had come out with, but he has made it his mission to get rid of the “maze” of “useless” ones.

“It was like a ‘jaal’ (maze) of ‘kanoon’ (laws); if one gets in, then they can’t get out. I have set up a committee to examine them. If I can end one law per day, then it will be an achievement,” he said.

Modi said winning elections is not for sitting on a seat but it is a responsibility, adding he has not taken even a 15-minute vacation since taking over as the prime minister.

The prime minister said the people of India and the diaspora have conveyed the strength of democracy through the April-May elections, which saw the Bharatiya Janata Party sweep to power.

“I will not do anything to make you lower your head. The government you have chosen will not leave anything out.”

Dancers, drummers, conch-blowers and Tibetan Yak dancers created an impromptu mela-like atmosphere outside the Madison Square Garden.

The 18,500 people with the much-sought-after tickets to the event lined up in a queue stretching several street blocks, as others milled around in a futile hope for tickets.

Entertaining them were several groups. Women in glittering saris performed garba dances. Members of the Tibetan community put up a yak dance performance. Drummers beat out a frenetic rhythm and conch-blowers blew auspicious notes.

New Jersey Transit ran special trains for the people coming to the reception organised by the Indian American Community Foundation. And, PATH subway system switched to weekday service in order to increase train frequency to handle the large crowds of commuters.

Across the street from the Madison Square Garden, some groups banding together under the banner of Alliance for Justice and Accountability, held a protest with about 50 people. They carried signs denouncing Hindutva and demanding the reinstatement of the visa ban on Modi.

Further uptown, in Times Square which bills itself as the crossroads of the world, giant TV screens broadcast the reception for those who could not score the 18,500 tickets issued through a lottery for event. More than 30,000 people had applied online for tickets to the event.

On Saturday evening Modi shared the stage with top music stars like JayZ, Beyonce, Carrie Underwood, Sting and Alicia Keys at New York’s landmark Central Park where he talked about down-to-earth subjects like sanitation, health and global peace.

He received rock star treatment from a crowd of more than 65,000.

 

 

 

 

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