‘Modi Airways’ set to take off in Australia as Indian diaspora waits for PM with dhol, dance & dhokla

Whenever prime minister Narendra Modi visits abroad, he makes it a point to meet and mingle with the Indian diaspora with the country that he visits. The non-resident Indians (NRIs) of that country also give the Indian leader a grand welcome.

Things will not be any different when Modi visits Australia next week as more than 20,000 members of the 800,000 strong Indian-Australian community will take a mid-week leave from work to roll out the red carpet for the prime minister.

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Modi will be given a grand reception at Qudos Bank Arena Stadium in Sydney on Tuesday (23) where he will be joined by his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. And among the attendees will be 177 people who have booked to be part of a special flight from Melbourne to Sydney called "Modi Airways", The Australia Today reported.

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The idea of flying a #ModiAirways chartered plane was floated in one of the meetings of the organising committee of the Indian Australian Diaspora Foundation, which is behind the mega welcome ceremony named 'Australia Welcomes Modi', in March.

Supporters of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi hold a banner reading "Modi Express" as they prepare to ride an overnight train with some 200 others from Southern Cross station in Melbourne to Sydney ahead of Modi's visit to that city during his visit to Australia on November 16, 2014. (Photo by MAL FAIRCLOUGH/AFP via Getty Images)

Jay Shah, one of the directors of the foundation, told The Australia Today that the idea of changing "Modi, Modi" at a height of 10-15,000 feet in the skies sounded exciting to everyone the moment it was proposed in the meeting.

“We then made a few calls to fellow Modi fans to validate and received the same excitement in response. Now we were confident and we straight away delved into filling up the seats and making it grand and memorable," he was quoted as saying by the news outlet.

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Dr Sachin Dahiya, who owns a general practice clinic in the town of Ballarat in Victoria, said both he and his partner wanted to go and listen to the prime minister's speech in Sydney but only one could go since the clinic could not be closed. They tossed a coin to decide the winner and it was him who won and will now go to see Modi.

Dahiya is also the coordinator of the foundation's team of seven to make the flight of "Modi Airways" possible.

He said a lot of people who could not manage tickets to travel by #ModiAirways were still coming at Qantas terminal early in the morning with dhol (an Indian double-sided barrel drum) and dhokla (a dish from the Indian state of Gujarat). And not to mention, they are in a dancing spirit.

The passengers travelling in Modi Airways will gather at Melbourne Tullamarine Airport at 7 am local time on Tuesday while preparing themselves for an Indian cultural dance on the beats of dhol and tasty breakfast, the report added.

When Modi last visited Australia in 2014, a Modi Express train was run between Melbourne and Sydney carrying 200 passengers who attended the Indian leader's speech in the port city.

Ashwin Bohra, who was one of the major players in the team which was responsible for the Modi Express train, told The Australia Today, “We Indian Australians are the second highest personal tax-paying community in Australia.

“And this event is a show of strength for us, not only to inform and educate but also to seek our rightful representation in the social, political, business and cultural avenues in Australia.”

He said ‘Dhokla and Laddu’ are Modi's favouriote and this time, they wanted to make sure that the two items were available to taste on Modi Airways plane.

“We have ordered enough so that we can distribute ‘Dhakla and laddu’ to all who are coming even just to participate in the cultural program at the drop-off," he said.