Melbourne: To re-live and celebrate the humble beginnings of Narendra Modi, over 200 fans of the Indian Prime Minister will be travelling by a special train from Melbourne to attend a diaspora event in Sydney on November 17.
The train dubbed ‘Modi Express’, which will be decorated with tricolour balloons, will depart from Melbourne’s Southern Cross station for Sydney at 8:30 pm on November 16.
“The idea of the ‘Modi Express’ came from the fact that Modi has travelled on trains for so many years during his role as a grassroots worker. And we all wanted to relive those moments and celebrate it in a symbolic way,” Indian Australian Community Foundation (IACF) spokesperson Balesh Singh Dhankhar said.
The fans will also get to savour Gujarati cuisine during their journey on this special four-carriage train.
“Even though we got all the seats booked long ago, we are still getting so many calls for the ‘Modi Express’ that we can run one more train like this,” said Shivesh Pandey, a volunteer at IACF helping in the arrangements of ‘Modi Express’.
The ‘charismatic’ Indian Prime Minister has already won the hearts of his fans here as they are eagerly looking forward to his visit. The train journey is indeed going to hold a unique place in their memory.
“The Indian diaspora in Australia has been waiting for over 28 years for our Prime Minister to visit to Australia. And when Modi took the oath as Prime Minister, it was every Indian’s serious wish to see him here,” said IACF President Nihal Agar.
The organisers have already billed the event in Sydney a success. Over 21,000 people have already registered for a mere 16,000 seats. The organisers of the event will be allocating a number of the said seats by lottery with a further 20,000 expected registries.
During his visit to Australia, Prime Minister Modi will first travel to Brisbane on November 15 to participate in the two-day G 20 Summit. On November 17, the Prime Minister will travel to Sydney, where he will attend a community reception and address the Indian diaspora. He will then travel to Canberra and address the special joint sitting of the Australian Parliament on November 18.