Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives a speech to an estimated 50,000 Indian expatriates at a cricket stadium in Dubai on August 17./ Photo from official website of Prime Minister of India

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By Ha Man-joo, India correspondent, AsiaToday - Crowd cheered as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded his speech with "Bharat Mata ki Jai" (the Discovery of India). On August 17, Modi reached the Dubai Cricket Stadium in Dubai to address the full house of over 50,000 Indian expatriates in Dubai, UAE.

The slogan was a message for not only the crowd at the stadium, but also 15,000 Indians who watched the ceremony through a large screen installed outside the stadium, as well as 2.6 million Indian immigrants in UAE and Indians across the globe.

It is aimed to emphasize India's elevated status in the world through many initiatives such as "Make in India", "Digital India", and "Swachh Bharat" that have been carried out after Modi took office in April 2014.

Modi said, "World's inclination towards India has increased. We must take advantage of this and take our nation to new heights of development. The world is coming to India by joining the 'Make in India' initiative. The Foreign Direct Investment has increased by 48 percent."

Modi spent a lot of time encouraging Indian immigrants, stating, "You are enhancing India's pride. When India conducted nuclear tests and faced sanctions, Indians working in this Gulf had made the biggest contribution."

His speech covered a range of topics from counter-terrorism cooperation with UAE, land boundary agreement with Bangladesh, help for Nepal after the earthquake, and initiatives launched by his government for Indian expatriates.

Aimed at Pakistan, Modi said, "India and UAE have sent a clear signal against terror. We will jointly take measures against those who support and sponsor terrorism. Good Taliban, bad Taliban and the good terrorism and bad terrorism formulation won't work anymore. People have to decide if they are with humanity or with terrorism."