Opinion The Diaspora Constituency
The Prime Minister has a way of launching initiatives in the quietest way possible. Last year at a conference of specialists on federalism he asked if we need a new coalition dharma....
The Prime Minister has a way of launching initiatives in the quietest way possible. Last year at a conference of specialists on federalism he asked if we need a new coalition dharma given the nature of the federation India has but most people misunderstood him and thought he was complaining about his coalition partners. Now he has proposed a vote for the NRIs. This has caused quite a flutter,at least among the NRIs. But it is an open question and the very nature of Indian citizenship is at stake in these discussions.
Of course it is only the NRIs and not People of Indian Origins (PIO) who are being enfranchised. The numbers are smallaround five million NRIs would be eligible. In an electorate of 700 million,this is a drop in the ocean. The likely NRI voters are not evenly spread across the constituencies of India. So in some places they could be voting in thousands and in other places none. The middleclass NRIs are likely to be from Gujarat and Punjab/Haryana. They are articulate and often active in the politics of the Hindutva parivar via the charities which the parivar runs abroad. There is no problem with that since their right to vote,as anyones right to vote,cannot be made contingent on how they will vote. Even so whether they vote NDA or UPA,their voices are well heard as it is since the local voters are there to do so.
But there is another NRI group which is completely different from the first one. These are the workers who go from Kerala or Bihar and UP to work in the Gulf countries. They are definitely not middleclass but they are the aspirational classes. They travel to improve their prospects and take considerable risks with their careers. Their interests are not political but strictly economic. Indeed they need protection from the host countries where they work. They are at the rough end of what is often human trafficking. They have suffered from the financial crisis in places like Dubai where the collapse of the building boom will mean loss of jobs with no compensation at all.
The middleclass NRI whom I met recently at the Pravasi celebrations want the vote so that they can make a difference to Indian politics. Indeed,one lady enthused about the vote since she thought her dream of a Hindu India would be realised thanks to the NRI vote. She did not like my pointing out to her that her vote was just one like any one elses and the numbers of home citizens were vastly higher than those of the NRIs. But for the worker migrant,the vote would be a way of improving their lives abroad. They would surely want to goad their Lok Sabha MPs to do more for them abroad. This of course is more easily said than done since these matters have to go via official channels.
My view is that it may not matter much whether the NRIs have a vote or not if they are scattered around the constituencies where they originally come from. Their numbers are too small. But if the country wants to recognise the special interests of NRIs as part of Indias interests then there could be a better way of benefiting from the vote. We should think of NRIs as a special minority and give it representation as a single group. They could have one or may be two seats in the Rajya Sabha. The entire NRI constituency could be registered to vote online and candidates could be thrown up from within the NRI community or even from local Indian citizens.
A Rajya Sabha seat or two would give better representation to the NRI interest in as much they have needs which are distinct from those of local citizens. Giving them a separate constituency and special seats will also mark them away from local issues,which seldom concern them. Of course,some may say that the NRIs do not deserve such a privilege. They can just vote like anyone else. But then the proposal is no different from that of a postal vote for anyone who cannot be on the spot on the day of the election.
May be that is all the PM meant.
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