New York, September 24
For the past several years, the annual meeting of the Prime Minister with prominent Indian-Americans, held on the margins of the UNGA session, had been a social affair.
This was particularly so when Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. His was more of a histrionic performance as his speeches were invariably peppered with witticisms and his eager audience regaled with the rendition of his poetry.
The contrast this time could not have been sharper and more obvious. There was no “shero-shairi” and no grandstanding when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met separately with Indian CEOs and Indian Americans this evening. Instead, the Prime Minister used the occasion to make a policy statement.
He explained the thrust of the UPA government’s economic policies and also articulated its expectations from the Indian community here.
In fact, this trip has turned out to be more of a mission for Dr Manmohan Singh. He has used every possible opportunity and forum to reassure his audience that his government is “committed to taking forward the programme of reform and liberalisation we initiated over a decade ago.”
This evening his audience comprised the well-heeled members of the Indian community, who travelled from New Jersey to Florida and California to hear and see the new Prime Minister. That they were not overly disappointed was evident from the standing ovation he got and the manner in which they lined up later to congratulate him.
“This is perhaps the first time that any Prime Minister has presented a policy agenda in a serious and sustained fashion at this forum,” Mr Piyush Aggarwal, president of the National Association of Indians in America, said.
Mr Vajpayee, according to him, used this occasion to play to the gallery but Dr Manmohan Singh’ speech was different. “While Mr Vajpayee connected with the people, Dr Manmohan Singh was connected to his mission,” he observed.
The new government’s commitment to economic reforms came under a scanner at Dr Manmohan Singh’s separate meeting with the group of Indian-American CEOs. They wanted to know how his government intended to improve growth rates and speed up foreign investments.
“We reminded him of how the Dabhol project was derailed because of political differences. We wanted to know how different the situation was now, especially since the government speaks in different voices,” disclosed Mr Kanwal Rekhi, a high-profile IT entrepreneur.
On his part, the Prime Minister held out an assurance of continuity and repeated his plea for greater foreign investments. “I am committed to a reform of the government and to increased investment — domestic and foreign, private and public — in infrastructure, especially power, communications and airports,” he said.
While promising to continue with the old economic policies, he explained that the results of the recent general elections made it incumbent on the government to make these more equitable.
Urging the large Indian-American community here to assist India in this task, Dr Manmohan Singh said the two-way traffic in ideas between India and the USA had, so far, been limited.
While calling for a course correction, the Prime Minister quoted his friend Jagdish Bhagwati of Columbia University to point out that the migration of talent did not necessarily constitute a “brain drain.” It could, in fact, help create a “brain bank”.
He admitted that the policies and infrastructure back home had been an impediment in this process but promised to improve things.
