Opinion | Buzzy howdy
1 min read . Updated: 18 Sep 2019, 01:54 PM IST'Howdy Modi', the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public rally scheduled this Sunday in Houston, US, is a class apart. It’s snappy, catchy and, above all, buzz-worthy
Branding in the political arena rarely gets better. No matter how you look at it, “Howdy Modi", the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public rally scheduled this Sunday in Houston, US, is a class apart. It’s snappy, catchy and, above all, buzz-worthy. For an event expected to draw 50,000 attendees, mostly Americans of Indian origin, the brand has clearly been conceived to capture the occasion’s zeitgest. “Howdy" is not just a casual contraction of “How do you do", it rhymes with “Modi" in the US accent. If Howdy Modi gets the sort of exuberant reception that his Madison Square Garden speech in New York did five years ago, that Americanism may even join “yup", “dude" and “buddy" in the lexicon of millennials back home.
The White House has announced US President Donald Trump’s participation in Howdy Modi, and with the latter still signalling that he’s keen to play Indo-Pak peacemaker, his very attendance is likely to boost viewership. But Kashmir is not all that the two leaders will likely talk about. Located in Texas, Houston has long been the oil capital of the US, and Republican Senator Ted Cruz has already spoken of India’s importance to America’s energy future.
The rally will be held just a week after world oil markets suffered their biggest ever disruption, with Iran suspected of being behind the drone attack on Saudi facilities that resulted in it. If Trump is on the lookout for a peace deal in West Asia, as he seems, perhaps India could offer itself as a mediator between Tehran and Washington.
