Are Modi’s partisan political rallies abroad doing any good to India? To Indians abroad? To India’s relations with the host countries? In the first flush of their unexpected but overwhelmingly decisive election victory, it is, of course, to be expected that BJP supporters of Indian origin would want to celebrate their hero’s achievement. But the manner in which they did so in New York and now in Sydney, and which they threaten to repeat in other capitals, does not augur well for anyone.
For one thing, it lacks decorum and dignity. Every democratic country ensures that domestic differences are left behind when the head of government or even humble MPs travel abroad.
The continuation of the election campaign into the kind of tamasha we have been seeing is a violation of that unwritten code. For at these rallies, Modi openly raises issues of domestic contention. Moreover, he makes a spectacle of himself choosing venues associated with pop concerts and boxing contests. What, after all, would one make of Obama visiting India for Republic Day and holding a 'Democrats only' convention in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to the exclusion of all US Republicans resident in the city?
Illustration: Bhaskaran
And what would happen if the Indian Overseas Congress decides to retaliate and holds counter-rallies at the same time? Would that not show India to be a divided house? Should we be washing dirty linen at another’s doorstep? And is not Modi provoking such action by holding these provocative partisan rallies?
One has known of opponents of the government holding rallies against the visitor when they have a point to make. For instance, when Rajiv Gandhi went to Washington in 1985, a group of Khalistanis protested. They were entitled to do so.
Equally standard is for prime ministers, and even ordinary run-of-the-mill ministers, to meet the Indian community when they travel overseas. But there is a certain protocol and etiquette to such meetings with the issues being raised relating to the problems of the community as a whole not degenerating into a slanging match on domestic issues.
Yes, press conferences are held, sometimes questions about domestic politics are raised, but, as a general rule, party politics is kept out of answers at press conferences abroad. That is why the PM talks to the Indian media accompanying him on the way back. Of course, brand new PMs can change the rules but not at the cost of the dignity of the nation.
Then there is the question of what Modi will do if he were to visit Gulf countries, host to millions of Indians, mostly working class, and overwhelmingly from Kerala, a state not particularly well-disposed to Modi and the BJP. Will he defy local regulations that sternly prevent any overt political activity? And, if the millions of Indians in the Gulf are to be left out of these jamborees, then what is proved by middle-class NRIs, mostly Gujarati, fetching up at these partisan show of strength?
There is also the question of community solidarity. Do we not want to see the overseas Indian community standing strong and united? Also, what of the reaction in the host country? They want the Indian community to behave as good citizens of their adopted country. They do not want to see these communities ghettoised and divided. Yet, that is precisely the consequence of Modi’s cohorts mobilising BJP party workers to convert a visit to the host country into a homeland rally.
Modi proved his point in May 2014 when he was elected PM. He will be doing a great favour to the country, to Indians abroad and to host countries if he stops this tasteless circus and gets on with giving substance to foreign policy. Or, does he have to prove himself to himself again and again because he knows that the Holy Grail will slip from his hands at any time?
Aiyar, former Union minister, is an MP and a social commentator.