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| NRI support for Gujarat CM |
| They may be far away from their home state in Gujarat but US-based supporters of Chief Minister Narendra Modi
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| INDIA
, 10-December-2007
9:37:47 AM |
| They may be far away from their home state in Gujarat but US-based supporters of Chief Minister Narendra Modi are not letting distance prevent them from launching a campaign for his electoral victory in the upcoming State Assembly election.
They have launched a massive campaign on the phone and via email asking NRI Gujarati's to encourage their family members in India to go out and vote for Modi.
Full-page advertisements have also been placed in local Indian papers. Non resident Indians do not have voting rights in India and US laws do not permit fundraising but many Modi supporters have left to campaign in Gujarat- a state that is flush with NRI remittances.
Despite being thousands of miles away from the political events of Gujarat organisers believe their campaign does have an impact.
Sanjay Jain, Vice President of the Overseas Friends of BJP explains, ''A view point or opinion of a member of the NRI community has more of an impact on a Gujarati than that of somebody from another state in India. Somebody calling from America saying that we have seen the progress of the Government and you should consider voting for them goes a long way especially since we do not stand to gain in any way''.
The Gujarati community in the US is largely a business community. In fact they are so entrenched in the hotel industry here that they are referred to as the 'Patel, Motel Cartel'.
The Gujarati supporters of Modi credit him for making Gujarat the No 1 state in India, as per Rajiv Gandhi Foundation's Economic Freedom Index.
''The average Gujarati earns 2.3 times more than the average Indian. Gujarat growth is 15 percent. Gujarat is becoming another Singapore. What more do you want?'' asks Narayan Kataria of supportgujarat.org, an online support group that has sent out over a 100,000 emails in support of Modi.
The Gujarat riots do not get a mention any where in their email and Ad campaign.
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