US President Biden Says He Should Take PM Modi's Autograph

By FnF Correspondent | PUBLISHED: 21, May 2023, 10:24 am IST | UPDATED: 21, May 2023, 10:25 am IST

When US President Joe Biden walked up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Quad meeting, one of the points he made was the large number of requests he was getting from prominent citizens to attend the Indian leader's programmes during his next month state visit to Washington DC, officials said on Sunday. Echoing a similar view, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he too is finding it difficult to accommodate all the requests he is getting for a community event, where Modi will speak on Tuesday, even though the Sydney venue has a capacity of 20,000, officials added. Albanese remembered how at the Narendra Modi stadium more than 90,000 people welcomed him during the victory lap.

To this Biden told Modi in a lighter vein that he should take his autograph. Modi and Albanese were in the Gujarat stadium to watch an India-Australia test match in March this year and had taken a lap of honour.

As part of his ongoing three-nation visit, Modi is scheduled to arrive in Australia on Monday and will address the community event on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid floral tributes at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum built in memory of those who died in a US atomic bomb attack on this Japanese city in 1945 at the end of World War II. Modi is on a visit to Japan to attend the annual summit of the G7 advanced economies here in Hiroshima.

Modi joined other world leaders at the G7 summit to visit the museum. Prime Minister signed the visitor's book in the museum, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. "Went to the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park this morning," Modi tweeted.

The leaders also paid floral tributes at the Cenotaph for the victims of the Atomic Bomb. The US conducted the world's first nuclear attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing some 140,000 people. Tweeting photos of Modi's visit to the museum at the memorial site, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Twitter: "A tribute to the memory of Hiroshima victims. PM Narendra Modi begins his day by visiting the Peace Memorial Museum, where he observed the documented exhibits and signed the visitor's book."

The ministry also tweeted a group photo of the world leaders attending the G7 Summit and said, "The leaders also paid their respect at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park." The facility displays belongings left behind by victims, photos, and other materials that convey the horror of the dropping of the US atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The G7 bloc comprises Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy as well as the European Union.