India will be the big gainer in the Modi-NRI romance
Narendra Modi has made a world of difference to the NRI perception about India. No other prime minister of India was able to make Indians proud of their land of origin and want to come back. This perhaps is his biggest achievement in the last seven months.
No other president of the US was the chief guest in the Indian Republic Day parade. Only Modi could think of the psychological impact it is going to have on the perception about India in the comity of nations. Why was it that previous Indian prime ministers never thought of making Republic Day a world-class event? That India is an emerging superpower is one thing. That it is going to be perhaps the largest economy in the next two decades, as Goldman Sachs and other studies show, is another. But the real fact is the big mood change Modi has effected in the way the world today sees India.
Modern diplomacy is a lot about perception. The communication revolution has totally redefined the grammar of international relations management and Modi has perfected this art.
The Congress leader Anand Sharma the other day ruefully said that all Modi’s international engagements since he assumed office were pre-decided by the previous UPA government and that they were not initiated by Modi. Sharma did indirectly try to take credit even for President Obama’s visit claiming that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had prepared the ground for this. The assertion begs two questions. Why did the Congress conceal these initiations all these months when they were accusing Modi of globetrotting and manipulating the spontaneous NRI receptions? They even nicknamed Modi the NRI prime minister. Second, if the PM itineraries were predesigned why did the Congress fail to applaud their grand success as a job well done?
Hypocrisy has no place in diplomacy. We all know Manmohan Singh was one of the most frequently globetrotting prime ministers India has seen. He even inspired media comments that he felt more at home abroad than in India, what with the Congress President Sonia Gandhi remote controlling statecraft. But Singh’s foreign policy exertions did not produce much diplomatic dividend for India. Neither did they erase the world assessment of India as an economy paralysed. In the last two years of Singh’s regime India suffered huge capital flight which is estimated at $25 billion. Even Indian businessmen found India an unsafe place for investment. Agencies like OECD and IMF described India as one of the most difficult places for doing business.
Narendra Modi last fortnight assured the NRI audience in Gandhinagar on the occasion of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas meet that he is determined to make India the easiest place for doing business. For NRI businessmen, India is again becoming a preferred destination for investment. Modi has swiftly accomplished what his predecessors failed to. Reassuring the Indian diaspora that India cares for them. In quick succession he met many of their long standing demands – on permanent visas, easing the immigration laws, assuring them voting rights, permitting them owning property and investments and profit repatriation. The government under Modi has welcomed them with open arms. More lasting contribution is making Indian missions helpful for the diaspora. These used to be islands of exclusion and non-performance. Under Modi they have become centres of economic diplomacy and cultural transaction.
Modi has understood the immense diplomatic potential of the 25 million overseas Indian community in shaping the global India image. Modi was always a darling of the NRIs. In all Pravasi Bharatiya Divas meets in the last decade he was the most sought after chief minister, overshadowing even the prime minister and Cabinet ministers. It came as no big surprise when this year’s Pravasi Bharatiya Divas turned out to be the biggest since inception. When you type "NRI+Modi" for a Google search it yields a record of 31,30,000 results which in itself is an indication of the NRI-Modi romance. Slowly, they are becoming stake holders in India’s destiny. World leaders like Barack Obama will benefit standing close to Modi in terms of the political messaging to their home constituency. Immigrant voters are assiduously wooed and they make a difference to the outcome. After Modi’s Madison Square Garden show which was attended by three dozen senators, Obama eased immigration laws, helping Indian software engineers and skilled labour. India sends the second largest number of students to US universities. Modi is fully leveraging on democracy, demography and demand.