With over 60,000 people present, Narendra Modi’s Howdy Modi event at Houston, USA was a grand success. Despite floods affecting the city, there was an overwhelming turnout at the NRG stadium, of Indian Americans, NRIs, people of Indian origin, Hindu Americans and other fans of PM Modi and President Trump. The crowd reveled with song and dance as it gathered to witness history- India and the United States redefining ties, in an event laden with mutual love, warmth and respect for each other’s nations. After a grand bipartisan welcome for PM Modi, President Trump came in and showered praises on the Indian American community, sought their endorsement for the upcoming elections, and set the stage for the Indian world leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who owned the stage and got the crowd on its feet in an atmosphere of great triumph and merriment. This was unprecedented. This was historic.
And so was the meltdown that followed.
In the United States, CNN really could not digest this. Trump’s speech was brilliant, Narendra Modi’s speech was phenomenal and the audience was one of the largest ever for a political leader in the USA. With two democratically elected leaders redefining and celebrating bilateral ties, and one among them- PM Modi, who returned to power in 2019, with a greater majority than 2014, CNN really dropped it’s brain. Unprecedented.
US President Trump and India PM Narendra Modi are authoritarian leaders who intimidate and exclude marginalized communities, chill the free press, and champion fake news and propaganda to whitewash their atrocities, writes Sarah Philips for @CNNOpinion https://t.co/RoBr3wmQuM
— CNN (@CNN) September 22, 2019
Ultra-socialist leader Bernie Sanders, who is in the Democratic presidential race, could not take it either. He had earlier protested India’s Kashmir move.
When Donald Trump stays silent in the face of religious persecution, repression and brutality, the dangerous message this sends to autocratic leaders around the world is: “Go ahead, you can get away with it.” https://t.co/H4jKDadFz8
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 22, 2019
Back home also, the meltdown was like sweet caramel. As the #HowdyModi gripped Twitter, and the live telecast of the event gripped Indian TV, the overwhelming sentiment in favour of PM Modi sent many leftists into a tizzy.
#HowdyModi underway
I want to remind all Indian Americans that they could prosper &flourish in America because it promoted liberalism,diversity & multiculturalism.
Exactly the same values their beloved leader Modi is destroying in India.
Remind him about this when you cheer Modi.— Arfa Khanum Sherwani (@khanumarfa) September 22, 2019
Mr Prime Minister, you have violated the time honoured principle of Indian foreign policy of not interfering in the domestic elections of another country. This is a singular disservice to the long-term strategic interests of India.
— Anand Sharma (@AnandSharmaINC) September 22, 2019
I think Trump should treat Indian Americans the same way that minorities in India are being treated currently and with ringing endorsement of that treatment by most NRIs. Think it’s only fair, no?
— Rohini Singh (@rohini_sgh) September 22, 2019
The narrative in the US, that Trump is using Modi's rally for political gain is upside down. It is Modi who's using Trump, to try and distract attention from India's economic problems, and from his government's appalling policies in Kashmir and Assam.
— Bobby Ghosh (@ghoshworld) September 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/ashoswai/status/1175869931516256262
From snake charmers to cow worshipers, job well done. Or undone. Nehru wanted to give India a new image, so he invested in science and tech, Mahindra went to US in 70s imagine the ground work by Nehru. But in 5 yrs we are reduced to cow worshiping lynch nation. https://t.co/oWmH9pmnEK
— Dr. Sanjukta Basu, M.A., LLB., PhD (@sanjukta) September 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/ashoswai/status/1175892897503350785
https://twitter.com/AudreyTruschke/status/1175835997172576256
Pakistan also quivered at the sheer size and grandeur of the Howdy Modi event and doing what it’s leaders do best when met with an uncomfortable truth, they spread some fake news. Pakistan’s Science and Tech minister, ISI’s DG-ISPR tried telling the ‘Awaam’ that everything was okay and Howdy Modi bombed. Perhaps it was to drive the attention away from Imran Khan’s really small red carpet that welcomed him as he arrived in the US.
Hopeless show by #ModiJanta after spending Billions of Rs this is what they could gather from all over USA Canada and beyond, shows money can’t buy everything #ModiInHouston https://t.co/3IshLXfXs3
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) September 22, 2019
Well..well…well @peaceforchange tweeted this picture, with childlike glee, showing a half-occupied stadium. This was before Modi arrived.
Modi walked in and it was house full. Quietly, @OfficialDGISPR deleted his Tweet.
72 saal ka ho gaya yeh mulk…maturity nahi aayi. pic.twitter.com/TbhVX55Rsr
— Major Gaurav Arya (Retd) (@majorgauravarya) September 22, 2019
It was clearly a festival on its own on Twitter, with people happily relishing this sad, sad meltdown. Entertainment hit the ceiling.
https://twitter.com/Iyervval/status/1175966226553552897
https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1175967780408979459
With all of these low-IQ hateful claims against India, the Indian leadership and NRIs in the United States, Howdy Modi clearly checked all the parameters for a blockbuster event, with ample supply of happiness and heartburn.