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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese kicked off his speech at an Indian diaspora community event held in Sydney on Tuesday, 23 May, by saying that “Prime Minister Modi is the boss."
Prime Minister Modi is currently on a three-day visit to Australia where he is scheduled to have bilateral talks with the Australian PM and also meet with the Indian diaspora there.
Speaking about the massive audience present to witness the event, the Australian prime minister drew a comparison between his “dear friend” PM Modi’s popularity to that of American musician Bruce Springsteen, whose fans often refer to him as “The Boss”.
"The last time I saw someone on this stage was Bruce Springsteen and he did not get the welcome that Prime Minister Modi has got. Prime Minister Modi is The Boss," said Albanese to a cheering crowd of thousands at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.
PM Modi was given a traditional welcome at the event with cultural dance performances. This marks the Indian prime minister’s second visit to Australia since he took office in 2014.
Preceding his Indian counterpart’s visit, PM Albanese said in a statement, "It will be our sixth meeting that we've had together since I was sworn in as Prime Minister one year ago today."
"It shows how important the relationship between Australia and India is. India will grow to be the third-largest economy in the world. It's already the most populist country in the world. And it's an important neighbour in the Indian Ocean that we share. And that is why this is a relationship that we need to invest in," the statement further read.
Prime Minister Modi addressed the Indian community at the event and spoke about the historical Indo-Australian bond which is not just restricted to cricket.
He mentioned the popular cooking show ‘Masterchef’, yoga, tennis, cinema, food ,and the culturally diverse Indian diaspora in Australia as examples of the strong cultural bond between the two countries.
“Cricket is something which has kept us connected for ages...and now tennis and movies from other connecting bridges," he said.
"There was a time when 3Cs used to define relations between India and Australia, these three were Commonwealth, Cricket and Curry. After that, it was 3Ds.. Democracy, Diaspora and Dosti. When it became 3Es, it was all about Energy, Economy and Education. But the truth is that actual depth of the relation between India and Australia transcend these C, D, E,” Modi remarked in his speech.
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