Narendra Modi always had the idea of setting up a vibrant economic hub in India – which he realised as the Gift City in Gujarat. Ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to the United States from September 21 to 23, an NRI has said that a trip by Modi to the US in the 1990s was a referral point for this project.
According to CK Patel, a businessman from Gujarat based in the US, Modi was very curious about the central business district of Los Angeles, when he travelled there in 1997. “One night, I took him to Downtown Los Angeles. During that walk, the vision for Gift City began to take shape. As we explored the area, Narendrabhai said, ‘Downtown is a concentrated area with skyscrapers. This is where the economy thrives, with banks, corporate offices, and large institutions driving the city’," Patel added.
What Modi saw in the US likely sowed the seeds for what would later become the Gift City in Gujarat, according to Patel.
Patel said when he accompanied Modi to the seashore in Los Angeles, the BJP leader saw high-rise buildings, tourists, and bustling restaurants. He asked him, “Why can’t we develop (Gujarat) in the same way? It too has a vast coastline like here."
“It was fascinating to see how he (Modi) connected everything he saw in the US to the potential development of India. Whenever he saw something new, he would ask questions, and link it to how it could be beneficial back home," Patel said.
There was another incident that Patel recalls while they were driving. Modi heard a weird sound when the car moved slightly off-course. “Curious, he asked me, ‘What is that sound? It’s similar to the noise you hear during a flat tyre. Why is it happening?’. I explained to him that there were no issues with the tyres. In the US, roads are built in a way that the vehicles start making a sound when they start drifting off the road," Patel said.
Modi has always been very curious about new technologies and wanted to know how those roads were built, he added.
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