The Indian diaspora is always feted and wooed by political rivals. Not surprisingly, a political slugfest broke out between the BJP and the Congress over the message given to NRIs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the contribution of Indians staying abroad and acting as goodwill ambassadors who improved relations between the country of their origin and residence. He was speaking during the first Persons of Indian Origin Parliamentary Conference in the national capital on Tuesday.
A few hours before Modi's interaction, Congress president Rahul Gandhi spoke to a group of NRIs in Bahrain. He criticised the Modi government for not being able to create jobs. “The tragedy is that instead of focusing the attention of our people on what is critical—removal of poverty, job creation and building education system—we see instead a rise in the forces of hatred and division.”
“Instead of accepting that we are struggling to create jobs, instead of uniting people together, all communities and religions to face the challenge, the government is busy converting the fear being generated in our jobless youth into hatred between communities,” Gandhi said in his first foreign outreach after becoming Congress president.
He continued with his strident attack, adding, “Activists and journalists are threatened; they are shot dead for expressing their views. People are killed because of their religious beliefs. Dalits are beaten into submission. Judges investigating sensitive cases die under mysterious circumstances. And through all this, the government has nothing to say.”
The Congress president's criticism angered the BJP. The ruling party said he cannot see the work done by the government in India and was instead spreading hatred while on foreign soil.
The BJP fielded Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to counter Rahul's statement. “He has said many things, which are not normally said in a foreign country. I want to ask Rahul Gandhi: The stand taken by your party on triple talaq, was it to spread love or hatred? Congress, which cannot take a stand on women empowerment, how can they preach to us?” Prasad said.
The senior BJP leader also questioned the position taken by Rajiv Gandhi, the former PM and Rahul's father, in the Shah Bano case.
“Rahul has been silent on spreading casteism in Gujarat. He is collaborating with those who are against India's unity. He is silent when RSS activists are killed in Kerala; why cant he spot hatred there? We want to say the maximum hatred has been spread by the Congress. It has always pandered to appeasement,” Prasad added.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi earlier addressed the PIO parliamentarian conference in Delhi. He said that the global impression about India has changed over the last three to four years. He said the reason for this is that India is transforming itself. He said the hopes and aspirations of India are at an all-time high. He said signs of irreversible change are visible in every sector.
The prime minister said that PIOs are like permanent ambassadors of India wherever they reside, and he always attempts to meet them when he is travelling abroad.
If Modi has been wooing NRIs aggressively, Rahul Gandhi, now, too, is reaching out.
