After the event

Reaching out to the Indian diaspora has become an intrinsic part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy.

Modi has addressed diaspora events in most of the countries he has visited — from his rock star style extravaganza at Madison Square Garden to the cheering crowds at Wembley Stadium and Sydney’s Allphones Park to crowds chanting “Modi, Modi” at Abu Dhabi.

Modi’s election and the vision of building a strong India on the path of growth and progress charged up large sections of the diaspora.

The diaspora has reacted with zest and euphoria to Modi’s outreach. But not every host country has viewed the public rally-like events with approval; Singapore had its reservations while the diaspora meeting in Myanmar was a closed door function.

Overseas Indians were among the most fervent Modi supporters in the run-up to the 2014 elections. But he got a glimpse of the other face of the diaspora when nearly 40 British MPs and another group of 200 writers and scholars called upon British Prime Minister David Cameron to take up human rights concerns with the visiting Indian Prime Minister.

Some deft manoeuvring by his hosts ensured that Modi did not come across protestors from Sikh, Muslim and women support groups. Diaspora groups’ emotional ties with the home country sometimes surface in strongly negative ways as old hurts continue to fester. Pro-Khalistan activists, for instance, have found a new generation of supporters overseas.

The Indian diaspora is the second largest after the Chinese diaspora, numbering about 25 million. It includes recent migrants to the US, Canada and Europe, the Indian expatriate workforce in the Gulf countries, as well as the descendants of Indians who migrated over a century ago to the Caribbean islands, South Africa, Fiji islands and later migrants to East African countries. The annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) was a grand occasion to bring together all these strands of the overseas Indian community.

Over the years there have been complaints of a sameness to each of the PBD events with little follow-up action. Also the PBD’s emphasis on attracting investment left the older diaspora with a feeling of neglect.

The older diaspora’s ties are more emotional and they look to reconnect with the ancestral homeland, its culture and traditions.

Previous Indian governments have also courted the diaspora, but Modi’s approach has been innovative. His personal outreach enthused his audiences, but what has been the result of this kind of wooing of the diaspora?

Late last year, the government changed the format of the PBD, deciding to hold the event biennially. State governments have also begun hosting their own pravasi summits.

The government needs to formulate a comprehensive diaspora strategy to transform the enthusiasm in a beneficial direction. Modi has called them to invest in India’s growth story.

But it will need a tangible improvement in the ease of doing business in India to be able to harness their financial and intellectual capabilities.

Grand events in foreign countries do not by themselves translate into diaspora strategy.

The writer is a senior journalist

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