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Congress accuses BJP of hijacking diaspora meet >From Indo-Asian News Service New Delhi, Jan 13 (IANS) The main opposition Congress party Monday charged the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with hijacking the Indian diaspora meet here last week for narrow political ends and basking in policies formulated by past Congress governments. Congress spokesman S. Jaipal Reddy criticised the government for allowing little scope for interaction between the diaspora and key political parties and letting the BJP to hijack the whole show. He accused the BJP of trying to reap benefits of past Congress government policies that had spawned a generation of successful non-resident Indians (NRIs). "The entire diaspora in the world has benefited from the high technology education policy that (India's first prime minister) Jawaharlal Nehru introduced," he said. Reddy pointed out that the world was all praise for graduates of Indian Institutes of Technology who had carved a place for themselves in their adopted countries. "The IITs were possible due to the farsighted vision of Nehru," he said. The Congress leader dismissed criticism that the party, which ruled India for over four decades, had no policy to engage the diaspora, estimated at over 20 million spread over 110 countries. "They (diaspora) are the flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood. Of course we have very definite ideas for global Indians," Reddy claimed. He said the Congress welcomed the dual citizenship for NRIs and persons of Indian origin (PIOs) in select countries announced by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the inaugural day of the convention. It was waiting for the finer details of its implementation. The party made its resentment clear during the three-day Pravasi Bharatiya Divas meet that concluded Saturday, when Congress president Sonia Gandhi declined an invitation to address a special interactive session on the last day. However, after much cajoling, Gandhi consented to attend a reception hosted for the delegates - nearly 1,400 from 60 countries - the previous day. The Congress leader, who is also Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had been tipped to close the conference. Party leaders accused the government of not seeking Gandhi's formal assent before printing the schedule announcing her interaction with delegates. "It is common courtesy that before printing someone's name you at least take their permission," a Congress functionary told IANS. "You cannot just go ahead and assume we will do your bidding." The party maintained that the entire affair was reduced to a BJP show. "It was only the overseas BJP that was all over the convention." The embarrassed organisers enlisted the help of top government leaders to coax Gandhi to participate on the closing day, but to no avail. Finally, they got her to attend Friday's reception to NRIs and PIOs, many of whom had expressed keen desire to meet her. Said a Congress leader: "She went because she was invited properly this time." --Indo-Asian News Service
