Gujarat CM is set to speak to US lawmakers on Nov’ 19th.
By Sujeet Rajan
WASHINGTON, DC: Gujarat chief Minister Narendra Modi will speak via satellite to an audience in America. Yet again, you might think. An image will surely pop up of hordes of Gujaratis sitting in groups, like in a movie theater, who clap fervently, cheer loudly every few minutes as they watch their beloved neta, the PM-in-waiting, on a TV screen.
But this time it’s different.
Unlike numerous times in the past he’s addressed the Diaspora from Ahmedabad – telecast live by TV Asia here – with groups converging in places like Edison and Chicago for a Modi watch party, sans 3D glasses but the effect being the same – it used to be the same atmosphere for India-Pakistan cricket matches some years ago in Jackson Heights and Devon Avenue – the most watched opposition leader in the world will have his first shot at addressing members of Congress on Capitol Hill.
The day-long event, on November 19th, is being earmarked as Bharat Day on Capitol Hill. It’s hosted by the powerful House Republican Conference (HRC), along with the little known Indian-American Advisory Council.
The Chair of the HRC, Washington state Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers – considered one of Speaker Boehner’s top most confidants and trusted lieutenants – is a key person behind the event. She had visited Gujarat earlier this year as a member of a Congressional delegation, and like most others who have visited the state and come away impressed, has high praise for Modi.
The event is expected to be attended by community leaders from across the country. It would feature discussions with some Republican leaders, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
If Modi plays his speech right, it could be a seminal moment in his political career, give him accolades both here and at home. It would put the spotlight on Modi the statesman. Not the provocateur, when he makes smarmy punch lines like Shahzada (at Rahul Gandhi’s dynastic aspirations) and unsavory ones like Khooni Panja (attacking the ruling Congress).
The November 19th event is a rare chance for Modi to talk about issues that concern the Diaspora, critical issues that concern India, make it resonate as the spiel of a leader, not an opposition leader.
A key talking point for Modi, apart from the usual diplomatic jargon of liberalization and growing trade and business ties between the two countries, should be on the immigration front.
Plenty of ministers from Delhi – a procession of them in the recent past – have had meetings with top Obama administration officials. Little has come out of it. In fact, on the contrary, the pressure and impositions on the Indian IT industry has increased tremendously, to the point that they have started to run for cover, unsure of from where the next hard hit is going to come from.
Sources in the IT industry in India say they are wary of doing business in the US, want only business from here. Want to decrease personnel here, increase it in India.
Just like the Obama administration has promised immigration reform for illegal immigrants, but an unprecedented two million deportations have taken place so far, the bevy of troubles for India’s IT industry has only grown, with a recent $34 million fine on Infosys. Investigation has begun on all the other major IT companies on allegedly misusing work visas, despite hard pressure and lobbying from the Indian government, and their cohorts on Capitol Hill.
The immigration reform bill is stuck in the House, which the Republicans control. It’s one thing for the Indian government to complain of proposed increase in visa fees, threaten to take the US to the WTO; quite another to get something done diplomatically on Capitol Hill to fix the system in their favor.
No talk has come from the Indian ministers or even the Prime Minister on the travails of the NRIs here, many of whom are on an uncertain road to getting a Green Card. The ministers have only seemed like lobbyists for the IT industry back home, not bothering to rake up the issue of the plight of hundreds of thousands of Indians who are stagnating under the broken immigration system here.
These are the same NRIs who help boost India’s economy by sending hefty remittances back home periodically. Help India when they face a current account deficit crisis. What is the point of having a union minister in the Indian cabinet for the NRIs? How many times has he raised the question of fixing the immigration system in the US to grant Green Cards faster to legal immigrants, some of whom face a 30-40 year wait, like in the case of EB3 applicants? Has finance minister Chidambaram ever raised this issue up with the Obama administration?
Modi has a chance to talk of these issues forcefully with Republican members of Congress who matter. Not just the Obama administration officials, who have little control over what transpires in the House. The Democrats are struggling to come to terms with the blow they suffered in the recent elections where a Republican governor swept New Jersey, a Blue state, and a sure shot candidate limped home in a razor sharp finish, in Virginia, which is now a purple state, and up for grabs in 2016.
Modi has a chance to admit in a candid speech that yes, some control and regulatory changes is definitely required as far as the issue of H1B and L1 visas are concerned. The onus is also on IT companies back home to ensure that they give a good deal to their employees who work for them here, adhere to the law, pay dues as required. He should talk of the need to ensure that Indians who come to work here are not exploited by unscrupulous businesses – mostly small business owners, who misuse H1B visas for their own gain. Support, commend US legislation on that front.
Modi has a chance to talk about an issue no minister has talked about with any US administration in the past, which should make him instantly popular with hundreds of thousands of Indians here: to give X visas to spouses of American citizens in India, in return for allowing spouses of H1B workers – on H4 visas – to be able to work legitimately here.
The H4 visa issue is a human rights violation, according to many experts; end in marriages crumbling, has affected the quality of life for over a generation of H1B workers from India. A small tweak in India’s laws should be able to take care of that issue. There is no political party in India who would oppose that, when they know the immense benefit that accrues from it to their citizens here.
According to the provisions of the immigration reform bill passed by the House, the spouses of those on H1B visa from countries that allow on reciprocal basis spouses of American citizens to work in their own country, will get the nod for an employment authorization document. At present, India bar spouses of American workers living there from either working or studying.
Modi has a chance to persuade Cantor and Rodgers, amongst other Republicans – who are ambivalent on comprehensive immigration reform, and favor step-by-step reforms – to get the immigration reforms passed for legal immigrants first, if that is what they prefer. But get it done in cooperation with the House. Not tie the issue to one of residency for illegal immigrants, which Democrats favor.
Modi also has a chance to address a key issue which has the Obama administration on the back foot globally.
To roundly criticize the White House for spying on the Indian Embassy in Washington, DC, and the Permanent Mission to the United Nations, in New York. For electronically bugging the premises of both, including hard drives of computers there. It’s a different matter that he can thank the US in private for spying on Pakistan and Afghanistan as well with equal fervor, passing on key security information to India periodically that helps thwart numerous terrorist attacks.
For many politicians on Capitol Hill, this would be their first look at Modi. Their first chance to hear him. It remains to be seen whether he opts to speak in English or in Hindi, a key factor again.
Top BJP leaders have visited the US in recent months, including Rajnath Singh, who needed an interpreter in New York at a private reception, where this reporter was present. The speech was tedious, became double the time. Of course, when Singh spoke in English, in Washington, DC, most wished for an interpreter to be present.
Whatever language Modi speaks in, it’s critical he brings sincerity to the cause of Indians here, shows he cares for India.
When Modi addresses a rally in India, it reaches mostly the people of that state. That’s why he throws sometimes ridiculous punch lines, for the rest of India to take notice. But when he gives a speech here, people from states all over India will read, watch, hear about him, what he had to say. He has the opportunity to influence the Diaspora. To influence lawmakers. He could become a hero with one forceful speech.
Modi might not get anytime soon an application for a visa to travel to the US fedexed by the US Embassy, unless he becomes the Prime Minister. But hey, for him right now, a speech that resonates on Capitol Hill is better than taking in the sights at the Smithsonian.
(Sujeet Rajan is the Editor-in-Chief of The American Bazaar)
To contact the author, email to sujeetrajan@americanbazaaronline.com
1 Comment
modi should spend less time lobbying the US congress and more time fixing his own country. the lack of modern plumbing and sanitation comes to mind.