A performance by Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor, popular for hit numbers like Baby Doll and Chittiyaan Kalaiyaan, will greet Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he reaches London’s Wembley Stadium to address a gathering of the Indian community on November 13.
Vijay Chauthaiwale, chief of the BJP’s foreign affairs cell, who made several trips to London to finalise the programme and is now camping here, confirmed that Kapoor would be performing at the event. “She is the only Bollywood performer at the event,” he said.
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Those familiar with Kanika Kapoor’s selection said she was chosen as she is an example of an Indian woman who faced a bad marriage in the UK, and went on to become successful in her vocation.
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Kapoor will sing a new welcome song for Modi, which has been penned by ad guru Piyush Pandey.
Apart from her song, there will be a performance of choreographed Yoga at the stadium. “We wanted to showcase things that are close to the Prime Minister’s heart,” said an official involved with the arrangements. A choir of children from the Indian community will also perform at the event. The cultural extravaganza will also witness performances by drummers and bagpipers.
Organisers said that they have received a massive response to the call for video messages and a few of them will be shown at the giant screens of Wembley Stadium.
Many people sent videos featuring their kids — some as young as three-year-old. The messages include answers to questions like “If there was a piece of India you could bring back to the UK, what would it be?” The answers ranged from “Paani puri” to “rickshaws” to “cousins”.
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Mayuri Parmar, one of the organisers, said, “We are expecting about 60,000 people… This is the biggest welcome an Indian PM has ever got. The only events comparable to this were visits by the Pope and Nelson Mandela.”
Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More