Modi remembers the man he met 10 years ago in Salalah

Energy Tuesday 13/February/2018 22:11 PM
By: Times News Service
Modi remembers the man he met 10 years ago in Salalah

Muscat: On Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech in Muscat, said that he had been happy to reconnect with a person he had met in Salalah almost a decade ago.
“About 10 years ago, when I was the chief minister of Gujarat and I was on my way to Africa. So, I had stopped at Salalah airport during my journey. The people I had met then, I was fortunate enough to meet again today,” PM Modi had said. One of the people that Modi was referring to was Indian Social Club (ISC) Salalah branch’s chairman Manpreet Singh. They had met during Modi’s transit through Salalah on 28 November 2008 on his way to Africa.
Manpreet Singh was delighted that Modi had remembered their meeting fondly. Singh even recalled telling Modi that he wished he would go on to become the Prime Minister of India.
“I told him and wished he would be the next PM of India,” Singh said. Singh said that he remembered his meeting with Modi about 10 years ago explicitly.
“I had the honour to meet Mr Modi personally. I remember his last visit as chief minister of Gujarat to Salalah when he on a tour of African nations along with the business community of Gujarat. He stopped twice to refuel his jet, while going and coming back.
“On the invitation of the then Indian ambassador Anil Wadhwa, I had the honour to receive him at Salalah Airport,” he said. The ISC Salalah chairman said that he was delighted that PM Modi mentioned him in his speech.
“Prime Minister mentioned his visit to Salalah in his speech. No doubt, no one else in India can give better speech than our PM. He is a very good orator,” Singh said.
Singh said that he was glad to have come down all the way from Salalah by flight to see Modi speak.
“It was a mega event where thousands of people were attending and they were all Indians. Credit for the success of the event goes to our ambassador, the officers and the staff of Indian embassy along with the chairman, vice chairman, management committee members and all the linguistic Wings of ISC based in Muscat for their hard work,” he added.
He also credited Royal Oman Police (ROP) and other authorities of the Oman government for the orderly manner in which the event was conducted.
Singh thanked His Majesty the Sultan for his hospitality toward PM Modi and fellow Indians.
“I would like to thank His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said for allowing our PM’s address on such a large scale,” he added.