Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Howdy Modi’ event had sent shockwaves throughout the world as over 50,000 people attended his event in Houston. His trip to the United States was arguably one of the most successful foreign trips by the leader of a nation. The liberals had a meltdown seeing the rousing reception that the Prime Minister received on foreign shores and as usual, had a meltdown and resorted to blaming the Non-Resident Indians as they attempted to discredit their efforts. The NRIs have paid no heed to the whining of the left-liberals as the Indian diaspora welcomed PM Modi in Bangkok with much enthusiasm at the ‘Sawasdee Modi’ event.
The Prime Minister who is currently in Thailand to attend the 16th ASEAN-India Summit, the 14th East Asia Summit and the third summit meeting of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) addressed the Indian diaspora at the ‘Sawasdee Modi’ event. ‘Sawasdee Modi’ is a reception organized by the Indian community in Thailand in close coordination with the Indian Embassy in Bangkok. In the Thai language, the word ‘Sawasdee’ is used for greetings and goodbye. ‘Sawasdee’ has its origination from Sanskrit word ‘Svasti’ which means welfare.
The Prime Minister addressed the Indian diaspora at Nimibutr Stadium which was full to the brim for the event as over 5,000 people attended the event. The Prime Minister took a strong stance on his move to abrogate Article 370 as he claimed in his speech, “You are aware that India has decided to eliminate a big reason behind sowing of seeds of terrorism and separatism. When the decision is right, its echo is heard across the globe. And I can hear it in Thailand as well.” This statement received a standing ovation from the crowd present there and this will surely emerge as a major cause of heartburn to the naysayers of the move to revoke Article 370.
In a significant move, PM Modi announced plans to develop India’s Northeast as a gateway to Southeast Asia under Central government’s Act East Policy (AEP) as there are plans to establish seamless connectivity between Thailand, Myanmar and Northeast India in the near future. The Prime Minister was quoted saying in his address, “Our focus is to connect India’s northeast with Thailand. Northeast is being developed as a gateway to south-east Asia. This initiative will immensely strengthen India’s act east policy and Thailand’s Act West Policy.” India’s Northeast used to be severely neglected by the previous UPA government and it’s refreshing to see the Central government having a sustained focus on the Northeast.
The Prime Minister also recounted the achievements of his government in the past five years which enabled him to come back with an even bigger mandate. The Prime Minister said that as many as eight crore homes in India were provided free LPG connections in just three years which was incidentally bigger than Thailand’s entire population. The Prime Minister also laid out his government’s vision in his address, “In the last 5 years, we have connected every Indian to a bank account and provided electricity. We are working to provide water to every family. By 2022, when India celebrates 75 years of independence, we are working to ensure a house for every poor person in India.”
The Prime Minister invited Indians living in Thailand to the opening of the Kartarpur corridor as he released a commemorative coin marking the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. He also released a Thai translation of Tamil classic ‘Tirukkural’ as he stressed that the relations between India and Thailand are that of ‘heart’ and no single government can be credited with the strong relationship between the two countries.