Winning diaspora behind Rahul, Modi engagements

Political commentator Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay says that the consensus that leaders would not talk about domestic politics abroad was broken by Modi after 2014

On the second day of his United States tour, Rahul Gandhi did not hold back on his attack on Narendra Modi as he accused the Prime Minister of tapping opponents’ phones and mocked him by taking out his mobile and saying, “Hello, Mr Modi”.

During at least nine foreign tours in six years when he had public engagements, he tore into the Modi regime and invited the wrath of the BJP while contributing to the collapse of the unwritten consensus that ‘domestic’ dirty linen will not be washed on foreign soil.

For the Congress or any opposition party, an engagement with the diaspora is an opportunity to amplify their message outside India against the Prime Minister, who has often used foreign tours to address his constituency back home.

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Political commentator Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay says that if there was a consensus that leaders would not talk about domestic politics abroad, it was broken by Modi after 2014.

However, the comments the leaders made rippled back home. Modi made comments – about people feeling ashamed of being born Indian, people asking what sin they have committed and that after his victory, how things have changed under him – in China, South Korea, Canada and the UAE among countries, which the Opposition found objectionable.

Before his latest tour, Rahul made a visit to the UK in March but it landed in a controversy over his ‘democracy in danger’ remarks. He also had made tours to Germany, Singapore, Malaysia and Bahrain besides multiple visits to the US and UK where he spoke about how he would have thrown the file on demonetisation into the dustbin, how agencies are misused, the atmosphere of intimidation and how diversity in the country is targeted by the BJP-RSS.

Asked why leaders rush abroad, Mukhopadhyay said diaspora in countries like the US has influence over domestic politics and winning over them could help in exerting pressure over the US or other governments. “This is what the Congress would be trying to do,” he told DH.

“At the same time, Modi would like to further the Hindu narrative. The idea of a global Hindu community comes across in his speeches. Modi is a Savarkarite BJP leader who wants to woo the diaspora. He does not address them as Prime Minister but as ‘Hindu Hridaya Samrat’. Look at his addresses, including in Madison Square, which is centred around civilisational concepts,” he told DH.

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Rahul defended engagements, telling an audience in California's Sunnyvale on Wednesday, “There is a group of young Indian students here. I want to have a relationship with them. I think it is my right to do it. I don’t know why the Prime Minister is not coming here…and answering some hard questions.” He insists that he does not seek support from foreign forces, as “our fight is our fight” though the “BJP likes to twist” it.

Is Rahul gaining something from these engagements? Mukhopadhyay says that the Congress leader is smart with words but needs to add more gravity. Wisecracks like "making Modi sit with God" are interesting, but Rahul has to be more substantive, he says.

“There is no point in endlessly talking about ‘nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukan’ or Bharat Jodo Yatra. Modi also repeats himself but he keeps on saying new things also,” Mukhopadhyay added.

However, the BJP is not impressed, with Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur calling Rahul's remarks an “insult” to not just the Prime Minister but the country.

“The Australian PM says Modi is the boss while the Italian PM says Modi is the world's most loved leader. Other world leaders respect Modi's leadership. Congress cannot digest this and speaks in sponsored programmes, first in the UK and now the US," Thakur said.