Ayodhya ‘Pran Pratishtha’ Done, All Eyes on PM Modi’s Abu Dhabi Visit to Inaugurate 27-Acre BAPS Temple – News18

After the grand Pran Pratishthan ceremony at Ayodhya’s Ram Temple, all eyes are now on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day trip to Abu Dhabi this month for his biggest community event in UAE and his presence at the grand opening of the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi.

Over 50,000 people of the Indian diaspora have already registered for the ‘Ahlan Modi 2024’ community event in Abu Dhabi on the evening of February 13. This will be held in the Zayed Sports City Stadium where PM Modi will address the Indian diaspora. People from all over UAE are coming to Abu Dhabi for the PM’s event and free transportation has also been arranged for them, News18 has learnt. Over 38 lakh Indian diaspora are in the UAE, the fourth-highest number of overseas Indian people in a country abroad.

On February 14, PM Modi, along with His Holiness Mahant Swami Maharaj, will inaugurate the grand BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi, a landmark temple spread over 27 acres. Last week, on January 29, India invited ambassadors of 42 countries for a tour of the temple and the Indian ambassador in UAE, Sunjay Sudhir, hosted the diplomatic corps from across the globe for the special tour. The envoys were awed by the temple’s unique architecture, intricate motifs and its message of unity, peace and harmony, the Indian embassy later said in a statement.

The visit by Modi will further signify the close ties between India and the UAE. This will be Modi’s seventh visit to UAE as the prime minister. Last December, he went to Dubai for a day to attend the COP28 Summit. In January, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was in India as chief guest for the Vibrant Gujarat Summit and the two leaders also held a road show in Ahmedabad. PM Modi, in 2015, became the first Indian prime minister to visit UAE after Indira Gandhi in the 1980s. The President of UAE has visited India four times in Modi’s tenure so far.