Organisers of the Ahlan Modi event said registrations to attend were now closed due to the significant demand
More than 60,000 Indians will pack into the Zayed Sports City Stadium to listen to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi address the expatriate community in the UAE. Organisers of the Ahlan Modi event said registrations to attend were now closed due to the significant demand, reported thenationalnews.com.
PM Modi will be in the UAE for two days next week and is scheduled to attend the World Governments Summit in Dubai. The Indian Prime Minister will also inaugurate the capital’s first Hindu temple.
The stadium gates will open at noon on February 13 and all attendees must be seated by 4 pm. Gates will shut at 5pm and PM Modi is expected to arrive after 6 pm. The following evening the Indian Prime Minister will inaugurate the Baps Hindu temple after a morning prayer ceremony during which the place of worship will be consecrated and blessed.
More than 1,500 volunteers from the UAE have been part of the organising and planning process of the large-scale stadium gathering. Over the last month, performers have met in homes and schools to practise. There will be rehearsals at the stadium in Abu Dhabi this weekend
He is expected to arrive at the temple in Abu Dhabi at 5pm and will be taken on a tour of the site, after which he is expected to speak to people in an amphitheatre within the temple complex.
Preparations are gathering pace with more than 700 local artistes readying to entertain the crowds at the Abu Dhabi stadium. “We want to make the cultural procession and the stage performance like a true celebration of Indo-UAE relations,” Dr Nishi Singh, communication director of the Ahlan Modi organising committee, told The National.
“This will be a joyous event. We want the whole programme to reflect the spirit of India-UAE friendship. We need to come together and we wanted this to be a celebration much like the Prime Minister’s call and vision for India to be a vishwamitra [friend of the world].”
Hundreds of community groups from across the country have registered to be part of the February 13 event. “We have schools, colleges, blue-collar workers and women’s groups coming in large numbers,” said Dr Singh, a consultant virologist who has lived in the UAE for more than three decades. “The best thing is that the talent will be all local, we have more than 700 performers for the cultural procession and stage performances – all UAE-based artists and singers.”
More than 1,500 volunteers from the UAE have been part of the organising and planning process of the large-scale stadium gathering. Over the last month, performers have met in homes and schools to practise. There will be rehearsals at the stadium in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
Shilpa Nair, the head of the cultural event, described the excitement building in the Indian community. “We are trying to make this a magical evening for everyone,” said Nair, who also headed the programme during Modi’s 2015 visit.
Tens of thousands of people gathered at Dubai International Cricket Stadium to see Modi when he visited the UAE in August 2015, the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the Emirates in 34 years. “When he visited us in 2015, it was more of a celebration for us that a prime minister was visiting us after so long. This time it is our tribute for what he has done over all these years. Using song, dance and performances, we will showcase the cultural heritage of both countries, the strong bond and the development taking place over the years.”
The visit comes amid strengthening of ties between the countries, frequent visits by heads of state, senior government ministers and major trade deals signed.
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