Washington: An "India Unity Day" march will be held on June 18 in 20 major cities across America to greet Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his historic state visit to the US later this month, organisers have announced.
On the invitation of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, Prime Minister Modi will travel to the US for the first time in June. The US president and the First Lady will also host Modi at a state dinner on June 22.
“The (Indian American) community is really excited (about Modi’s visit). The community is gathering on June 18 here in Washington DC at the National Monument. And there will be a march from Washington Monument to Lincoln Memorial, calling it ‘India Unity Day’ and welcoming Modiji. That is two days in advance,” said community leader Adapa Prasad, who is also the national president of Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP) USA.
Also at the same time, in about 20 places across the United States, “from east to west, from north to south, covering major cities” there will be similar welcome marches at iconic places like Times Square in New York and Golden Bridge in San Francisco, he said.
The other cities are Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Columbus, and St Louis.
On the evening of June 21, as he arrived at a Washington DC hotel, the Indian American community planned to have a cultural event spanning Kashmir to Kanyakumari, and West to East different cultural events in front of the White House, Prasad said.
“On (June) 22nd morning,…we are expecting about three to 5,000 Indian diaspora invited by White House on the lawns of the White House. That is a historic moment because this is the first time any country-specific diaspora is invited to the White House in such large numbers,” Prasad said.