Howdy, Modi! All you know need to know about the event

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the Indian-American community in Houston on September 22 during his visit to the US for the UN General Assembly session. Houston, which has one of the largest concentration of over 500,000 Indian-American community in the US, is the energy capital of the world. Energy security is a priority area for the Prime Minister.

The origin of the name

"Howdy", shorthand for 'How do you do?', is a friendly greeting commonly used in the southwestern United States.

You need to have a pass

"Howdy, Modi!", the Indian-American community summit, will be hosted by the Texas India Forum, the Houston-based non-profit which is expected to bring together tens of thousands of people, according to a press release. Attendance at the summit will be free, but passes will be required. Passes are available on a first-come-first-serve basis and exclusively through an online registration process. The organisers issued a statement saying that this will be a sold-out event. They said that over 50,000 attendees have registered in just three weeks for the event through online registration.

A billboard seen in Houston, USA, announcing the upcoming 'Howdy Modi' event on Sept. 22nd. (PTI Photo/Seema Hakhu Kachru)

Time of the event

The timing of the event is scheduled at 10 am (local time), or 8.30 pm (IST). The event will begin from 10 am (local time) or 8.30 pm (IST) and is scheduled to end at 1 pm (local time) or 11.30 pm (IST).

When President Trump meets PM Modi

US President Donald Trump will join PM Modi at the mega event, according to a White House statement. Reflecting on the new bonhomie in the India-US ties under the Trump administration, this will be the first time in recent history that the leaders of the two largest democracies would be addressing a joint rally anywhere in the world.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump during the G7 summit. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP)

A delighted PM Modi's response

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the "special gesture" of US President Donald Trump to join the Indian community programme in Houston signifies special friendship between the two countries.

Expectation

This will be Modi's third major address to the Indian-American community after he became the Prime Minister in 2014 and the first after his re-election in May this year. The previous two were at the Madison Square Garden in New York in 2014 and the Silicon Valley in 2016. Both the events were attended by more than 20,000 people.