Lottery To Decide Who Will Attend Modi's Public Reception In U.S.

"I was not there when Swami Vivekananda spoke in Chicago in 1893. I do not want to miss when another Narendra is about to deliver a historic speech in New York," said Anju Preet, a scientist from the prestigious Georgetown University here.

Subject to availability of tickets, she plans to take both her sons to the event.

Tickets for the programme are free.

Organisers said, overwhelming response has not come as a surprise to them.

"We were expecting this. Given Modi's popularity, even a stadium of the size of 60,000 to 70,000 would have been smaller.

"We tried our best to get the two stadiums in New York, New Jersey area, but they were booked because of games. The Madison Square Garden is the largest venue one that we can get for this day," one of the organisers said.

The community leader requested anonymity, as they are not authorized to speak to the press.

They said there is a huge media interest both in the U.S. and also from India to cover the event.

While preparations are in the full swing and final decision is yet to be taken, those involved in the preparations exuded confidence that it would be a "memorable event".

In fact, more than 700 Indian American organisations had shown interest in being a partner to the reception.

Following strict scrutiny, who met the basic criteria like the number of years, not-for-profit, religious institutions, or filing annual income tax returns, so far, 407 Indian-American organisations have been registered as "Welcome Partners for the Community Reception" for Modi.