Posted on 09/27/2015 11:10:40 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Tight security, Bolllywood beats and protests set the scene for Indian Prime Minister Narrendra Modi's visit to the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park Sunday.
Modi, who received a rockstar welcome by the Indian community when he landed in Silicon Valley Saturday is in California to meet with tech leaders to talk about his vision for a digital India. An avid social media user, he has more than 14 million followers on Twitter and urged people to send him questions for the town hall on Facebook.
"We received more than 40,000 comments for this town gall, that's pretty incredible," Zuckerberg said to applause from the crowd
Zuckerberg welcomed Modi to Facebook, saying that he had been inspired by visiting a temple in India, a special place Steve Jobs had told him about.
"I hope that the inspiration you got in India will help you be the voice of millions of people ... "Your experience shows that those who come to India with certain hopes and aspirations, are able to meet those hopes and aspirations," Modi said.
Modi said he aims to take India from an eight trillion dollar economy to a twenty trillion dollar economy by focusing on the agriculture, tourism and service sector.
Thousands of questions have poured in for the leader of the world'ssecond-most populous country, ranging from immigration policies to women's rights to pollution and music piracy, all important topics for a generation of Indians who are tired of not getting answers from their politicians.
On Saturday, Modi toured the Tesla factory with CEO Elon Musk and met with Google's new CEO, Sundar Pichai, as well as Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, both Indians.
Hundreds of Modi's followers showed up early Sunday to catch a glimpse of him at the Town Hall. some of whom included members of the Indian press and other organizations who had flown in from India. Some called him a "global brand," whose reach has far surpassed the Indian subcontinent.
Outside, Sikh groups held a protest. One of the groups claim that's Modi's tenure has resulted in deteriorating religious freedom for Indians. According to a memo handed to town hall visitors, the group alleges that Modi is trying to turn the world's largest democracy to a Hindu nation through forced conversion of Muslims and Christians. They urged Zuckerberg to ask Modi about this at the town hall.
"With social media you have dialy bonding," Modi said to applause from the crowd. "Government can use this real-time information to speed up their work....Social media has played a very big role as far as government is concerned."
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