Narendra Modi touched down in San Jose around noon on Saturday, to begin a two-day visit to Silicon Valley. The Indian prime minister’s whirlwind tour of the world’s top technology companies had much of the San Francisco Bay Area excited about the tech sector’s role in an increasingly influential country.
His visit was not without controversy, however, as local groups pointed to questions over Modi’s alleged failure to act over – or even to have encouraged – riots in the state of Gujurat in 2002 which killed 1,000 people, mostly Muslims.
Others were more positive. “This is really exciting,” said Raj Krishnan, a 33-year-old developer from nearby Mountain View. “I don’t think anyone in the tech world right now isn’t excited about his visit and what it could mean for the sector back home in India.
“If he does things here, then the opportunities to really get into India can happen.”
Modi was to visit the electric carmaker Tesla on Saturday afternoon, for a conversation with founder Elon Musk. Later he would host a dinner for leading tech CEOs. Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai were the headline names, while Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen and Pichai would lead a panel discussion. All three are Indian-born.
“Landed in San Jose to a great welcome,” Modi tweeted shortly after arrival in California. “Eagerly awaiting the programmes in the coming 2 days.”
On Sunday, Modi was scheduled to head to Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park for a town hall event with Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook has been seeking an entrance into the rural Indian market, and the social network hopes that Modi’s visit will give more traction to such efforts.
A press statement from Modi’s office said the San Francisco Bay Area was “considered to be the startup hub of the world, housing nearly half a million Indian expats, many of whom work as technology professionals”.
Modi’s visit is a sign that New Delhi is taking an interest in its US diaspora.
“This is what we need to really show the world that we are an important part of the technology economy that continues to grow here,” said Prakash Dhama, 45, a freelance web developer and designer who said he has had stints at Apple, Twitter and Google over the past decade. “It is about time that we [Indians] are seen as important.”
Nupur Dave, chief operating officer for the Indian Googler Network, an employee organization at Google, said Indian Googlers were excited about the visit.
“The community reception event had over 700 Indians from Google registering and scores of bubbling fans reaching out to help volunteer with the event, more than a month in advance,” he said in a statement.
“It is expected to be the event of the year, and we feel we have the luck of a superstar that Prime Minister Modi is visiting the Bay Area.”
However, two groups, the Alliance for Justice and Accountability and Sikhs for Justice, called on supporters to protest the Facebook event and for Modi to take responsibility for the 2002 massacre in Gujarat, which occurred when he was chief minister of the state. He has denied wrongdoing.
“Are we just supposed to forget about what this man is responsible for and just let that slide because he wants to make India’s economy better?” said Rajeev Vanaratne, a 38-year-old programmer working at Cisco.
Vanaratne asked whether “the tech world is so focused on growth and expansion that they would rather work with this man for profit than to look for alternatives to help the Indian people”.
In California, Modi was likely to face such criticism from protesters while tech companies sought his help in rolling out products and ideas to more than a billion people.
