Narendra Modi mania hits Indian diaspora in Australia

SydneyAfter wowing and wooing millions all over the world Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to cast his oratory magic on the Indian expatriates living in AustraliaWith few hours to go before the mega reception being hosted in Allphones Arena at Olympic Park here in Sydney the Indian expatriate community seems to be truly in the grip of a Modi maniaNarendra ModiAround 20000 members of the Indian disapora would be in the live audience of the community reception being organised in honour of the Indian prime minister Monday evening The organisers are also setting up big screens outside the iconic sporting venue which would enable about 5000 additional IndoAustralians to watch Modis speechI am so excited over attending Modijis function that I did not sleep last night says owner of a cab company Narinder Sharma while speaking to IANS in SydneyThe excitement over the Sydney function is not restricted to the Australias largest city only A chartered train dubbed Modi Express departed Melbourne last night for Sydney with 500 Modi bhagats A large number of enthusiasts have missed the train literally as the number of the seats was restrictedI am really disappointed as I could not get a seat on the train for Sydney reception of the Indian PM says Ranjan Singh Rana while speaking to IANS from Melbourne I wish more tickets were given to the Melbournians he addsThe number of those flying to attend the Sydney reception from Melbourne and other distant Australian cities would easily run into three figuresSydney may be organising the biggest overseas reception for Modi but it would not be the first down under as the Indian PM has already been received by a euphoric expat gathering when he unveiled Mahatma Gandhis statue in Brisbane yesterdayBut it is the Sydney event which is attracting even the Australian mainstream medias attention because of the sheer size of the audience No overseas politician has ever received such a rockstar like reception down under in the living memoryThe organisers the Indian Australian Community Foundation IACF are confident that they would host a reception which would be bigger than the one organised at New Yorks Maddison SquareWhile the excitement over the Allphones event is definitely palpable a section of the diaspora is not happy over the way Modi reception is being organised This list of dissenters includes some members of the IndoAustralian Sikh communityWe have been really disappointed by the organisers as they did not send us an invitation to register for reception for Mr Narendra Modi says an audibly anguished secretary of Sikh Council of Australia Bawa Singh Jagdev while speaking to IANSEven though the invitation was extended to us when we questioned the organisers we have decided not to attend the event as an organisation Some members of our community would be attending the event to honour the guest of Australia but they would do so in their individual capacity Jagdev saysSikh Council of Australia has however disassociated itself from any public protest against the Indian PMNothing is achieved by such protests says Jagdev while asserting that his organisation would give a petition to Modi through Indian diplomatic missionHis sentiment is shared by a Melburnian car dealer Narinder Singh when he says Instead of staging protests against Narendra Modi we should seek solution by sitting across the tableThere are number of other socalled community leaders who have expressed dissatisfaction against the organisers in the media but as pointed out by some senior diaspora figures their protest is because they were not invited to event