'Modi magic breaks booking records in Sydney's Allphones Arena`

Sydney: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) International Joint Coordinator Ravi Kumar on Thursday praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying his magic has broken all booking records at Sydney's Allphones Arena.

The Allphones Arena is Australia's biggest entertainment and sporting complex and was built for the 2000 Summer Olympics.

"The standing capacity in the hall is 21,000, but the record crowd they ever had was 17,000. Now sitting capacity is only 16,000, and we are having a booking of more than 23,000. So, you can see that has broken all the records in Australia, 16,000 people will be inside and many several thousand will be watching on a giant screen from outside, this is the magic of Prime Minister Modi," Kumar told a news agency here.

Recalling his days of working with the Prime Minister when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, Kumar said the latter was a crowd puller and knew the art of working with everyone.

"I was posted in Gujarat in 1975, me and Prime Minister Modi used to work together. I remember he was a crowd puller back then also. He would use punch lines like, 'a man is known by his dress and address', back then also. He knew the art of working together with everyone, as he used to give respect to elders and had a friendly approach with the people of same age," said Kumar, who has been based out of India since 1982

He also said that the Prime Minister had created a big revolution among Indian youth all over the world.

"Prime Minister Modi has created a big revolution among Indian youth all over the world. Every sentence that he says, it resonates with the youth, and they feel that there is some connection, not only the youth, but others also feel that he is talking to them and he is not an outsider," added Kumar.

In an attempt to gauge Prime Minister Modi's popularity among non-Indians, an e-mail was sent to various corporate officers and internationally famous Australians, said Kumar.

Within five minutes, one person replied saying, 'Now, I am in New York, on that day I will fly down from there.'

"Prime Minister Modi has united more than 200 Indian organisations together. These internally great non- Indians have shown great interest in coming to meeting him," Kumar said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to leave for Australia tonight to attend the G20 Summit. Preparations for his visit are in full swing in Sydney, especially for his address to the Indian community at the Allphones Arena.

The Prime Minister is currently in Myanmar as part of his 10-day trip to three nations, the other two being Australia and Fiji.

Earlier today, he met his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of the ongoing East Asia Summit 2014 in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw, and had yesterday interacted with the leaders of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.

During his visit to Australia, Prime Minister Modi will first travel to Brisbane on November 15 to participate in the two-day G 20 Summit.

On November 17, the Prime Minister will travel to Sydney, where he will attend a community reception and address the Indian Diaspora.

Prime Minister Modi will then travel to Canberra and address the special joint sitting of the Australian Parliament on November 18.