The "'Howdy, Modi!' – Shared Dreams Bright Futures" event, where members of the United States' vast Indian diaspora community met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was held on Sunday at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, the fourth-largest city in the United States. Modi was accompanied by US President Donald Trump; together they addressed the packed-to-capacity venue.
Taking a dig at the event, Major General Asif Ghafoor, chief spokesman of the Pakistan army’s media wing, in a since-deleted tweet showed some empty seats at NRG stadium before the event commenced and sarcastically captioned it “House Full”.
The event was attended by representatives from 48 US states and had a packed stadium; nearly 50,000 Indian-Americans were in attendance.
As the pictures and videos of the stands stared going viral on social media, netizens took a dig at Major General Ghafoor and accused him of creating a false impression of the event being a flop.
The event was hosted by the Texas India Forum. The live audience in the stadium was the largest-ever gathering for an invited foreign leader visiting the US other than the Pope, according to the organisers.
It was the first time an American President had addressed such a large Indian-American audience at one place in the country.