The Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are a small but an influential group. They immensely contribute to the growth story of India. NRIs are important as far as elections are concerned. Around 2.5 crore NRIs will get chance to cast their votes first time in the 2019 General Elections through a proxy or an e-postal ballot system.
Ever since PM Modi has come into power in 2014, he has utilised every opportunity to connect and interact with NRIs during his foreign visits. Now Modi government has decided to provide the NRIs right to vote in India through a proxy or an e-postal ballot system. This has been a long pending demand of NRIs and now Modi government has finally concluded it. In August, the Lok Sabha passed a bill and amended the Representation of the People Act in order to pave way for NRIs to cast their votes through proxy voting rights in elections to Parliament and state assemblies. Until now, only defense personnel had this privilege to avail such rights.
PM Modi while speaking at the 13th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, described the 25-million strong NRI communities as India’s “great capital”. Modi added that “My conviction is that the Indian diaspora is a great capital for us in the global context. The more we nurture it, the stronger will be our presence globally”. Engagement with the overseas Indian community has been a key area of priority of Modi government. Historically, the BJP government has been more involved in wooing NRIs than the Congress. The BJP in its 1996 election manifesto had addressed non-resident Indians, “millions of children of Mother India have settled abroad”, as an asset to the country. The sister organizations of the BJP and the RSS have worked greatly amongst Indians who are settled in various parts of the globe promoting and propagating Hindu culture, yoga, building temples and distributing Hindu scriptures.
The NRIs enthusiastically took part for Modi’s election in 2014 for making him PM of the nation. They not merely extended the support in form of funds but many of them joined as volunteers to campaign for PM Modi in the last general elections. Now, the NRI groups are voluntary again backing ahead of 2019 General Elections for the re-election campaign of PM Modi. According to a Report of The Times of India, the US chapter of the Overseas Friends of the BJP is campaigning on social media for BJP. The NRIs strongly believe that the BJP will unlock India’s economic potentials and will boost the economy to many folds, and they are also cheerful with PM Modi’s schemes such as ‘Make in India and Swach Bharat Abhiyaan’. The President of the US chapter of the Overseas Friends of the BJP, Krishna Reddy, said that Modi’s supporters who are living in the US likely would make around 500,000 calls next year in order to support PM Modi’s election campaign.
Some enthusiastic NRI Modi supporters launched #MODIfor2019 campaign on his 66th birthday. It was launched by a group called Modi Supporters Group (MSG). Its one of the media coordinators said, “In this era of global economic slowdown, Modi Ji has sustained India to be the global hot-spot for trade, tourism, education and a country that respects women & families. We need to surround ourselves with like-minded people who actually care- who give buoyancy and work with you for One goal, One Vision – India- like Modi Ji.”
Vijay Chauthaiwale, the chief of the BJP’s foreign affairs cell, said that Modi supporters in 20 countries will assist in the campaign.
The zeal of these NRI groups is driven by their connect with PM Modi. According to the volunteers, this is the reputation that India has cemented in the last four years since Modi government came into the power.
