Modi to address NRIs in Sydney

More than 16,000 members of the Indian diaspora will pack Allphones Arena at Olympic Park here to listen to Mr. Modi at a community reception

Amazing welcome in Sydney. Glad to be here, the PM tweeted on being given a traditional welcome by Australia's aboriginal dancers. Photo: PMO India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Sydney on Monday on a whirlwind six-hour visit to Sydney on the second leg of his four-city tour of Australia. Mr. Modi, who arrived here from Brisbane after attending the G20 Summit, will proceed to Canberra tonight and later to Melbourne.

Australia’s aboriginal dancers gave a traditional welcome to Mr. Modi. The Prime Minister spent about five minutes at the lobby of Hotel Pullman and watched the four male dancers, who also sang and performed a few dance sequences.

Mr. Modi got a boomerang as a gift from the dancers. It is well known as a weapon used by Indigenous Australians for hunting and is commonly thought of as an Australian icon.

Mr. Modi is the first Prime Minister to visit Australia in 28 years after Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. More than 16,000 members of the Indian diaspora will pack Allphones Arena at Olympic Park here to listen to Mr. Modi at a community reception. About 5,000 more are expected to be watching the evening event on big screens outside.

More than 200 Modi fans left Melbourne on a specially a chartered train dubbed the “Modi Express” to listen to Mr. Modi’s speech at Allphones Arena this evening.

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Published - November 17, 2014 10:01 am IST