In a week that saw the Pope and leading Chinese official Xi Jinping visiting major U.S. cities, Silicon Valley is getting in on the action with a visit from India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi at SAP Center and several tech companies.
The event at SAP Center quickly reached capacity with more than 48,000 people registering ticket requests for the venue, which can accommodate about just over 17,000 attendees.
Modi has also scheduled a visit to Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, a town-hall style Q&A with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at the company’s Menlo Park headquarters, and he is expected to meet with Tesla CEO and tech visionary Elon Musk.
Modi’s stop in Silicon Valley marks the first visit by an Indian prime minster to the West Coast in more than 30 years.
“With Silicon Valley as the center of innovation, we are all very excited about the possibilities that exist for India under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi,” said event organizer Naren Gupta, a venture capitalist, in a statement. “PM Modi has outlined several key initiatives, including digital cities, alternate power and cleanliness that requite innovative approaches.”
However, the event is not without controversy. The Alliance for Justice and Accountability is protesting the event with a #ModiFail campaign that includes billboards on several Bay Area highways. The organization is planning a protest at SAP Center that invites attendees to “stand up for India’s religious minorities, women, LGBTQ people, historically marginalized castes, Dalits and adivasis.”
The group claims India’s values of pluralism and tolerance are under attack since Modi assumed office as prime minister in May 2014.
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