Ahead of the general election due a few months from now, the BJP on Monday tried to reach out to Indian Diaspora by promising a development-oriented Government at the Centre that would create an environment attractive enough for the NRIs to make investment in India.
The principal Opposition party said the 2.5 million strong Indian Diaspora was the second largest in the world, only after China, and could contribute immensely to bring the economy back on track. It also sold the Brand-Modi to the NRI saying he was a leader whose popularity goes beyond the limits of a caste of religion.
“40 to 50 per cent of the total FDI inflow in China is by the Chinese Diaspora. In India, the NRI contribute just 10 to 15 per cent of the FDI. We will change this system. Our Government will frame such policies that NRI’s get tempted to investing in India,” BJP chief Rajnath Singh said at a function here.
The party president called upon the NRI community to lend their support in making India a super power in next 10-15 years. Singh drew a parallel between the performance of the UPA Government and the then Atal Bihar Vajpayee Government and said economy gained unprecedented momentum under the NDA regime.
“While growth rate was higher, the NDA Government succeeded to keep price rise under control. Investors had faith in India’s story only because the Vajpayee’s Government could deliver on its promise to provide good and corruption free governance,” Singh said.
The BJP chief said his party after coming to power would boost the manufacturing sector and could float bonds which would allow NRIs to invest in this sector. He said that NRIs had heavily invested in the Resurgent India Bonds which had been floated by the Atal Government after the Pokharan nuclear tests in 1998.
One of the problems that NRI faced was that that it was not always easy for them to travel back to India with families to vote. “We feel that NRIs should also be allowed to cast their votes in the embassies abroad,” Singh said.
He also urged the US Government to have a relook at the Border Security Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernisation Act of 2013 as the visa fees had increased and Indian engineers were facing problems.
Singh said that there should be a system under which NRIs should be able to get their children admitted to IITs and other institutions of excellence in the country. The BJP president slammed the Congress-led UPA Government saying it had brought the credibility of India down in the eyes of the world.