Delhi presses restart button for diaspora

GOVERNMENT WANTS TO TURN 25M EMIGRANTS INTO GLOBAL AMBASSADORS

3 m People of Indian origin living in the US alone. 22,000 Attended Modi’s event in Madison Square Garden. 20 US congressmen and senators also attended the event. ● The government has decided on a single identity card to make easier for the diasit pora to connect with the homeland, secure lifelong Indian visas, avoid checks at local stations durpolice ing visits, and own land.

F or years, Indians viewed their countrymen who emigrated abroad for better opportunities with suspicion — as if they’d somehow betrayed the motherland.

But with roughly 25 million people of Indian origin now scattered across the globe — including more than 3 million in the United States — attitudes about the Indian diaspora are changing dramatically. And the country’s new government is looking at the huge expatriate population — second only to China’s — as a valuable component of India’s foreign policy, in much the same way the Jewish diaspora in the United States influences international opinion and policy on Israel.

In recent months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a concerted effort to harness the energy and assets of Indian communities around the world. He started with flashy speeches in places like New York’s Madison Square Garden and Allphones Arena in Sydney, aimed at turning every Indian abroad into an ambassador. Since then he has repeatedly urged the community abroad to contribute money, time and technical expertise to his signature programmes, including cleaning the Ganges River, making India garbagefree and building rural toilets. He called upon Indians living abroad to urge families in their adopted countries to visit India every year to boost tourism, and he asked organisers of the Madison Square Garden event last autumn to donate $30,000 (Dh110,187) to Indian villages.

During Modi’s meeting with President Barack Obama in New Delhi last month, Obama announced a new public-private partnership — “The Indian Diaspora Investment Initiative” — aimed at helping Indian Americans invest in India.

“We are changing the contours of diplomacy and looking at new ways of strengthening India’s interests abroad,” said Ram Madhav, general secretary of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “They can be India’s voice even while being loyal citizens in those countries. That is the long-term goal behind the diaspora diplomacy.”

Before Modi, Indian embassies abroad would organise formal receptions with a few dozen prominent Indians when prime ministers visited. But Modi prefers to reach out to larger numbers cutting across age, occupation and income. In New York in September, hundreds of Indians lined up on the streets to catch a glimpse of Modi, shake hands and click selfies with him.

“You play a key role in shaping a positive image of India not just in America but also around the world,” Modi told a rapturous crowd of more than 22,000 Indians cheering and chanting at Madison Square Garden.

About 20 US congressmen and senators attended the event, which pleased many in Modi’s political party here because they hoped it would help create politically assertive Indian communities abroad.

These events have added a new dimension to India’s foreign policy projection, said Syed Akbaruddin, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman.

“Our soft power diplomacy now goes beyond books, culture and films. We now have the potential to engage large numbers of people abroad directly,” Akbaruddin said.

Some, however, think Modi may be overestimating the role of the diaspora and putting too much emphasis on Indians living in Western countries.

“There is now a consensus that the Indian diaspora community can play a constructive role, but under Modi we are overstating their importance and their clout. Their contribution so far has been largely intangible,” said Pranay Sharma, foreign policy editor of Outlook , an Indian weekly news magazine. “We should know how to use them but also know when to maintain a distance. Otherwise it can cloud our foreign policy goals.”

Modi’s measures

Modi’s government has announced several measures to link the diaspora to its foreign policy outreach.

For the first time, India’s foreign minister is focusing on Indian affairs overseas. The government has decided on a single identity card to make it easier for the diaspora to connect with the homeland, secure lifelong Indian visas, avoid checks at local police stations during visits, and own land. India also allowed visitors from 43 countries, including the United States, Australia and Fiji, to receive visas upon arrival, replacing the previous process, which took weeks.

Modi’s government is also following up on a Supreme Court ruling to allow Indian citizens living abroad to vote in Indian elections. Now many say they feel closer to India.

“Many of us in the diaspora who felt like a severed entity felt reconnected to the Indian mother ship when Narendra Modi reached out and embraced us the way he did in New York,” said Saureen Shah, a 33-year-old engineer and an Indian American citizen in San Francisco who came to India to work on Modi’s national election campaign last year. “It was like pressing the restart button in our relationship with India.”