The “Howdy, Modi” event in Houston appeared as a showpiece thread of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that began with his grand show at Madison Square Ground in New York in 2014.
Narendra Modi had secured a resounding win in the 2014 parliamentary election and held a victory celebration in New York. This time, the celebration took place in Houston. About 20,000 people had attended the Madison Square event. The number touched 50,000 in Houston reminding the viewers of a bigger victory in the 2019 national election.
“Achchhe din” (days of glory) was the catchphrase in 2014. In Houston, Modi gave another on Sunday night with US President Donald Trump in attendance. He said, “Because you’ve asked ‘Howdy Modi!’, my response is everything is fine in India.”
PM Modi’s response has a political background as well. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had posed a teaser to PM Modi taking a dig at his Houston event. Rahul Gandhi said, “Howdy economy doin’, Mr Modi? Ain’t too good it seems.”
For a beginner, “Howdy, Modi” stands for How do you do, Modi? The prime minister’s assertion that all is well in India has come at a time when public discourse is centred around issues the Modi government is not comfortable about.
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