Boston, LA To Get New Ambassadors, University Of Houston To Have Thiruvalluvar Chair, PM Modi Says

India will open two new embassies in Boston and Los Angeles, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, meeting a long-standing need for the fast-growing Indian American community in these two major American cities.

While Boston is considered the academic and pharmaceutical capital of the US, Los Angeles, the home of Hollywood, is hosting the next Summer Olympics and the current US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti is the former mayor of the city.

“Friends, last year, I announced that our government has plans to open a new consulate in Seattle. It’s working now. I was asking you for a suggestion about the other two ambassadors. I am happy to inform you that after reviewing your proposals, India has decided to open two new embassies in Boston and Los Angeles,” Modi announced while addressing the American Indians at the Nassau Veterans Coliseum in New York.

He also announced plans to open the Thiruvalluvar Chair of Tamil Studies at the University of Houston to further strengthen the living bridge between India and its diaspora in the United States. He expressed the hope that the Indian diaspora, with its strong collective power, will continue to play an important role in strengthening the close relationship between India and the US.

India currently has six embassies in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco and Seattle. The embassy is in Washington DC. The Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations is based in New York City.

This announcement was immediately welcomed by the citizens of Los Angeles.

“The Modi government is listening and responding to the needs of Indian Americans and American leaders and political leaders. I thank Prime Minister Modi, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and former Indian Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Sandhu for the decision to open a consulate in Los Angeles,” said Gunjan Bagla, who -CEO of Amritt Inc, a communications company based in Los Angeles, told PTI.

Bagla led the effort in this regard. “We received over 3,600 signatures from Southern California residents. A number of American and Indian American organizations wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office,” he said.

Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States and its twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach handle about 40 percent of all the goods traded overseas in the United States.

With the growing global importance of the Indo-Pacific, Los Angeles is the capital of the Pacific Rim and India needs to be present here.

“All but one of the G20 countries have embassies here in Los Angeles. American business executives interested in India will feel more engaged with the Indian embassy. Although we have been blessed with Consul General Dr. Srikar Reddy visiting us several times from San Francisco in the past year, there are many local events where India’s absence is clearly felt. NRIs and Indian Americans will benefit in case of urgent needs to travel to India by not flying to San Francisco,” Bagla said.