Skip to main content

Modi compares his efforts to "rejuvenate" India with Gandhi on arrival as NRI hundred years ago

By Satyakam Mehta
It was an occasion for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pat himself, going so far as to compare his claimed efforts to infuse a life into India with what Mahatma Gandhi had initiated exactly a century ago as "a non-resident Indian (NRI)". Modi inaugurated the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) by exhorting the NRIs and People of Indian Origin (PIO) to join India’s new growth story, which he believed had only one parallel – of what Mahatma Gandhi began doing on his return from South Africa to set foot on his home soil on January 8, 1915.
That was the only reason, he told NRIs, his government had decided to “make things easy” for the NRIs and PIOs. The announcement for the life-time visa, he said, was basically aimed at this. "A pravasi bharatiya (Gandhi) returned to India 100 years ago on this day to provide a new pathway to the country. Now, I welcome you all here as apravasi Gujarati to this great land,” Modi said amidst applause, soon after he formally set off the annual PBD at the Mahatma Mandir convention centre in Gujarat state’s capital, Gandhinagar.
Modi’s subtle refrain, that India is being noticed “now as never before”, was unmistakable. “I just made a suggestion to the United Nations that there should be an International Yoga Day and within a record 100 days this was ratified with as many as 177 of 193 UN-member countries seconding it. No proposal has ever been passed in the UN’s history till a minimum two years, but this was cleared in less than 100 days. That is how the world now looks at India,” Modi patted himself on the back. “The world is now waking up to India,” he averred.
Besides a lifetime visa for the diaspora, Modi said, the “irritating rule” for every PIO card holder to mark attendance at a police station once a week has been done away with. “All this reflects the present government’s concern for Indians overseas,” Modi insisted, adding, “Visa on arrival has been introduced, while documentation work is being made online to prevent the running and rushing to embassies.” And to smoothen out things more, “a Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra will be set up in Delhi.” 
Also unmistakable was his frequent usage of the word “now” during his long speech, which his NRIs appeared to hear attentively. He likened India to be standing on a threshold of a new life, as it was when Gandhi shaped the direction of India’s freedom struggle a century ago and put it on a growth pedestal. He underlined, “Opportunities await you now in India. India has risen with a new strength now and the world looks at it with new hope.”
Making a subtle attack on his political opponents, especially the previous UPA government Modi said, the PBD event was first promulgated by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2003 when it got “enormous response, but later few bothered”. He added, “I always attended all these events since I understood always that the NRIs and PIOs could be key drivers of India’s growth and vice-a-versa. They may be staying in different countries but their yearning for India is indomitable, they get filled with tears and reach out with all resources at their hand”.
Suggesting that India was on a “new trajectory now”, he said, “It was now up to NRIs and PIOs spread across 200 countries to emerge as strong drivers to the country’s growth. I say India exists in all these countries and the hearts of those staying there always reaches out back home.”

Comments

TRENDING

Avoidable Narmada floods: Modi birthday fete caused long wait for release of dam waters

Counterview Desk  Top advocacy group, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), has accused the Sardar Sarovar dam operators for once again acting in an "unaccountable" manner, bringing "avoidable floods in downstream Gujarat."  In a detailed analysis, SANDRP has said that the water level at the Golden Bridge in Bharuch approached the highest flood level on September 17, 2023, but these "could have been significantly lower and much less disastrous" both for the upstream and downstream areas of the dam, if the authorities had taken action earlier based on available actionable information.

From 'Naatu-Naatu' to 'Nipah-Nipah': Dancing to the tune of western pipers?

By Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD*  Some critics have commented that the ecstatic response of most Indians to the Oscar for the racy Indian song, “Naatu-Naatu” from the film, “RRR” reeks of sheer racism, insulting visuals and a colonial hangover. It was perhaps these ingredients that impressed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, one critic says.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Biden urged to warn Modi: US can declare India as worst religious freedom offender

By Our Representative  During a Congressional Briefing held on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, Nadine Maenza, former Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), has wondered why the Biden administration should raise issues of mass anti-minority mob violence  -- particularly in Haryana and Manipur -- with Modi. Modi should be told that if such violence continues, the US will be “compelled by law” to designate India as one of the world’s worst offenders of religious freedom, she urged.

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

Asset managers hold '2.8 times more equity' in fossil fuel cos than in green investments

By Deepanwita Gita Niyogi*  The world’s largest asset managers are far off track to meet the  2050 net zero commitments , a new study  released by InfluenceMap , a London-based think tank working on climate change and sustainability, says. Released on August 1, the Asset Managers and Climate Change 2023 report by FinanceMap, a work stream of InfluenceMap, finds that the world’s largest asset managers have not improved on their climate performance in the past two years.

Evading primary responsibility, ONGC decides to invest Rs 15,000 crore in sick subsidiary

By NS Venkataraman*  It is reported that Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will infuse about Rs 15,000 crore in ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OPaL) as part of a financial restructuring exercise. ONGC currently holds 49.36 per cent stake in (OPaL), which operates a mega petrochemical plant at Dahej in Gujarat. GAIL (India) Ltd has 49.21 per cent interest and Gujarat State Petrochemical Corporation (GSPC) has the remaining 1.43 per cent.

'State-sanctioned terror': Stop drone attack on Adivasis, urge over 80 world academics

Counterview Desk  A joint statement, “Indigenous Peoples’ Un-Freedoms and Our Academic Freedom: A Call for Solidarity”, endorsed by over 80 signatories, including international academics, activists and civil society organizations, as well as diasporic Indian academics and researchers, working with Adivasi (indigenous) communities in India, has made an urgent appeal to prevent future drone bomb attacks by the Indian state on Adivasi villages.

Sales, profits of Indian firms 'deteriorate', yet no significant increase in cost pressures

By Our Representative  The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad's (IIM-A's) latest Business Inflation Expectations Survey (BIES), a monthly exercise, has said that while cost perceptions data does not indicate significant increase of cost pressures, sales and profits of the Indian firms have deteriorated.