The huge rally will come after Mr Modi has lunch with the Queen at Buckingham Palace and further meetings with business leaders as part of a trade drive.
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Modi is expected to speak to a crowd of over 60,000 British Indians, and the day’s events will culminate with the “biggest firework display in the whole country”.
Earlier, a visit to the factory of Tata Motors-owned JLR in the West Midlands region was said likely to be squeezed in, based on availability of time.
London is rolling out the red carpet for Modi on his three-day visit to Britain, the first by an Indian prime minister in almost 10 years. “Your warm welcome makes me feel home”, the Prime Minister told the biggest gathering of Indian Diaspora he has ever addressed since assuming office in May 2014.
“The pace and direction of progress in India is such that the fruits of development will be seen very soon”, Modi said.
The British prime minister said that “India-UK ties are about people and about prosperity”.
The British media on Friday provided substantive coverage of Modi’s visit but a number of reports were critical of his past and his record on human rights.
Members of Britain’s large Indian diaspora, many waving India’s tricoloured flag and wearing Modi masks, chanted the visiting leader’s name and let out a deafening cheer as he took to the stage for an hour-long speech, which combined soaring rhetoric with detailed policy strategy. He called it a “historic day”, and attempted to counter accusations of neglecting minorities by paying tribute to Sikhs who had “spilled blood to protect Mother India”, although was more reserved on Muslims, calling for a deeper Sufi influence.
“They say a chaiwallah never governed the world but he proved them wrong”, Cameron said. “There is no reason for India to remain a poor country”.
The U.K.is home to an estimated 1.5 million people of Indian origin, providing political ballast for Modi as well as potential funding for projects back home such as building toilets for millions of Indians who don’t have them and expanding power networks, failures he touched on in his speech.
“The upcoming talks in Paris will be a crucial moment in the fight against climate change and I am pleased to be able to work closely with India to ensure that the deal we secure helps to keep the below 2 degree limit on global warming within reach”, she added.
“Team India and Team United Kingdom, together we are a winning combination”, Cameron said.
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UK-India year of culture The year 2017 will be a UK-India year of culture, during which the British Library will digitise 200,000 pages of its South Asian archives and Madame Tussaud’s, where waxworks of Bollywood stars are among the most popular attractions, will open a branch in Delhi.
