Modi mesmerizes Indian diaspora yet again

One of the glorious success stories of Narendra Modi’s prime ministership in the three years that he has been in office has been the excellent rapport he has built up with the Indian diaspora in countries that he has visited, especially in the developed world, be it the US, Canada, UK, Australia and Germany. His powerful oratory and his disarming style have won him numerous admirers and silenced many of his diehard critics in those countries. The latest case in point is his address in Virginia on Sunday on his fourth official visit to the US. His Madison Avenue address on an earlier visit had completely bowled over the Indian community. On Sunday in Virginia, he was in his element despite a gruelling day of virtually non-stop engagements. If, at the end of the day he was a veritable modern-day hero it is hardly surprising considering the optimistic picture he painted of India and the huge sense of pride and spirit of comraderie he imparted to the Indian diaspora. According to a 2014 World Bank study, the India diaspora sent remittances worth $70 billion, the highest for any immigrant group in the world and nearly four per cent of the country's gross domestic product. Since then, if anything, the remittances must have grown substantially and so has India’s profile and acceptability in these countries.

In the Virginia public address, not only did Modi emphasize on how he has galvanized the poor of India to develop a sense of participation in the country’s development through schemes like mass opening of bank accounts and the rich giving up the subsidy on cooking gas cylinders which were then used to make gas connections available to the poor, but he also dwelt on how his external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had been hugely pro-active in rescuing Indians abroad who were in distress and needed help. The message was loud and clear—that the BJP-led government in India was a friend of overseas Indians. He appealed to the sense of patriotism of non-resident Indians by recounting how India had taught Pakistan a lesson through ‘surgical strikes’ on their terror bases and implored them to come and see how India was running a corruption-free government which was responsive to the needs of the times. That all this made a big impression on their minds was evident from the interviews with the attendees that various TV channels carried in the immediate aftermath of the Virginia meeting.