by Moiz Mannan
Whether or not the support of overseas residents would actually change the course of an election, the Indian diaspora abroad as well as the political parties in India have shown a sudden eagerness to engage with each other ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken a delegation to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and demanded the postal ballot facility for non-resident Indians (NRIs). A senior functionary of the new star on the horizon, the Aam Admi Party (AAP) is on a Gulf visit to ‘interact’ with NRIs. And, there has been a sudden escalation in the activities of pro and anti-Narendra Modi groups in the United States.
We have already discussed in this space how AAP’s success story, supposed to have been scripted in a significant way by NRI supporters, has inspired other parties to look outside India for support. The recent Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was used sometimes overtly, sometimes covertly to send out political messages. BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, did not mince words, while some Congress ministers applied more subtle tactics.
Soon after the event, some prominent BJP leaders came out an blasted the ruling party for ‘misusing’ the annual diaspora conclave for political ends.National Secretary of the BJP Kisan Morcha and in-charge, Himachal Pradesh, Sukhminderpal Singh Grewal alleged that the Government of India and the Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry led by Vayalar Ravi politicized Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.
The leader issued a media statement expressing dismay over the exclusion of opposition leaders from the event. Although the PBD was started during the BJP rule no invitation was extended to the Overseas Affairs wing of the BJP, Singh complained. He said the heads of all Indian political parties managing and coordinating overseas affairs should be officially invited instead of making the event solely a “Congress party affair.”
Last week, a delegation of BJP leaders met Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath asking for a mechanism to facilitate NRIs to cast their ballot in the forthcoming general elections.
NRIs were given voting rights in 2010 through an amendment in the Representation of People Act, 1951. With the amendment, NRIs can exercise their voting rights, but have to be registered in electoral rolls of the constituency where they are listed as residents before leaving India and have to be present on the day of election in the constituency.
The BJP has proposed initiating a postal ballot facility or voting at an Indian Mission abroad or online voting to allow them to participate in elections.
The BJP delegation also cited the example of 115 countries, that include Nepal, which have granted their nationals abroad. The BJP also quoted figures saying that out of about two million Malayalis living abroad, only 8,820 NRIs had their names on the electoral rolls, of which only 4,639 turned up to cast their votes on April 13, 2011, when the last assembly elections were held in Kerala.
Reacting to the demand, MOIA Minister Vayalar Ravi told agencies that it was not “physically possible” to allow anyone to vote from outside the country. “We requested the Election Commission to work out some mechanism, but they said it is not physically possible,” he said.
Meanwhile, senior AAP leader Shazia Ilmi visited the Gulf and interacted with Indian expats in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. She spoke about communalism, corruption, poverty and illiteracy and how NRIs are fed with such ailments in the system. She told the local media that NRIs in the Gulf were
willing to offer their time, expertise and funds to her party.
In a display of the party’s overseas muscle, AAP supporters in the UK recently staged a black flag demonstration here protesting over a ‘junket’ by Uttar Pradesh legislators. The protest was timed to coincide with the visiting legislators’ dinner meeting at the Indian High Commission in London.
Catching up on the ‘Aam Admi’ fervor, a group of US-based NRI farmers announced to the media in Ahmedabad on Thursday their plans to invest $ 3bn to improve food supply in India. Among the initiatives for the poor is a pack of five wheat chapatis labeled ‘Aam Admi Roti.’ Interestingly, the Indo-American farmers, wearing AAP-style caps, said they would first meet Narendra Modi to implement the project in Gujrat.
In another development, the overseas friends of BJP has decided to create an army of Indian-American volunteers in the US to call their friends and relatives back home seeking their support for Narendra Modi in the next Lok Sabha polls. Each volunteer is expected to make at least 200 calls. According to party officials, thousands of volunteers are getting ready to work for “Mission 2014 - BJP 272+” in the US and some of them are traveling to India to campaign for the BJP.
Meanwhile, highlighting the politicisation of the Indian diaspora abroad, The Times of India reported that Narendra Modi has become a factor in the election in California’s 17th congressional district in San Francisco’s Bay Area, which includes Silicon Valley.
The incumbent Democrat congressman Mike Honda signed a letter last November along with 25 other Congressmen asking the US to continue denying Modi a visa. Ro Khanna, a young Indian-American contesting the Democrat primaries against Honda, signed on a letter by Modi supporters, asking him to talk to the Indian community first.
With all these rather interesting activities taking place on foreign soil, one can imagine what would be happening in the days to come as the election approaches.
The Peninsula
