Saffron Across The Seven Seas

AS the BJP made an all-out bid for power this year, it was not just the Sangh parivarin India that did the ground work. Its international family came to the aid of the partytoo. In a well-orchestrated campaign, many in India received messages from friends andrelatives abroad to exercise their franchise to instal Atal Behari Vajpayee as primeminister. Indeed, an organisation called the Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP), with itsvast network of branches in most countries with a sizeable NRI population, ensured thatthe BJP emerged as the most well-represented Indian political party abroad.

So much so that on occasions BJP leaders managed to draw larger crowdsthan British politicians in England. As Keith Vaz, a member of the House of Commons, foundto his surprise in 1995 at the thumping welcome L.K. Advani received in his constituencyLeicester. Indeed, in all his years as MP, he had never managed to collect such a largecrowd. In fact, the OFBJP was largely responsible for Advani being accorded the BBC Man ofthe Year title some years ago.

Support for the BJP is an outcome of the crystallisation of a Hinduidentity in Britain and the US and the BJP nurses its non-voting constituency in thesecountries with some care. M.M. Joshi was a guest at a meeting on Kashmir organised by theNational Hindu Students Forum in Britain, which has a 2,000-plus membership. Kedar NathSahni and Sikander Bakht later visited Britain to address meetings on Kashmir organised byBJP supporters, who work closely with the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), the RSS’overseas branch. And the crowning glory was a series of meetings addressed by RSS chiefRajinder Singh. Interestingly, Advani is a bigger crowd-puller than Vajpayee.

The OFBJP has an extensive network in Britain, with eight branches and a17-member central committee. Dr Gautam Sen, lecturer in international relations at theLondon School of Economics and the new spokesman for the BJP there, says their objectiveis primarily "to remove misconceptions about the BJP, that it is a communal orfascist party".

The BJP members in Britain have launched a programme of writing바카라 웹사이트 tocouncillors and MPs and holding meetings to defend and explain the BJP in India. Sen hasspoken actively for the BJP in several discussions on radio and TV and says: "We wantour views here to get across so that reports on the BJP are not instantly hostile." Acurrent campaign is on to collect "tens of thousands of signatures" to backIndian membership in the UN Security Council, for which Margaret Thatcher’s backingis being sought.

WHILE Sen is the formal and public face of the BJP in Britain, its realstrength lies in the temples and HSS shakhas. About 60 shakhas are held regularly acrossBritain every week, the natural fallout of which is support for the BJP. When Kalyan Singhwas dismissed recently, prayers were held for him at the shakhas and in scores of templesacross Britain. And after the Coimbatore blasts, thanksgiving prayers were held in templesup and down Britain and also at two gurd-waras in Southall for the safety of Advani and topray for those who died.

The OFBJP American branch is equally active in lobbying for support forthe Sangh parivar. Says vice-president of the American OFBJP Shekhar Tiwari: "Webegan the organisation in 1991 to give the BJP an international reach. We work to builddirect contact with policy-makers, administration officials, members of variousthink-tanks and the media. Among our jobs is to fight the leftist and liberal propagandaagainst the BJP. And this includes the anti-BJP propaganda that the Congress party carrieson against us." Incidentally, Tiwari is also a member of the RSS.

In a PR stunt, the OFBJP staged a media event here to announce a"vote for the BJP" campaign. Jagdish Sewhani, treasurer, said: "We haveurged all NRIs to call, write, send e-mail or faxes to their friends and relatives to voteBJP." But Tiwari and Sewhani acknowledged that such moves wouldn’t affect theoutcome of votes in a large democracy such as India. "It’s more for emotionalsatisfaction by demonstrating our commitment to the Indian democracy and BJP," saysTiwari. "We overseas Indians can’t vote; so asking relatives and friends to voteis the next best thing we could think of."

Significantly, interviews with members of the American parivar,academics, US Administration officials, Congressional sources and diplomats clearly pointto the growth of the Hindu lobby since the early nineties—that is, soon after theAyodhya demolition. The BJP had then come under attack by the US media as well as theIndian officialdom in Washington, then led by Ambassador Sidhartha Shankar Ray. As Tiwarinotes: "It was Ray who, in a way, fired up our juices. We had to do something tocounter the insulting propaganda he was dishing out against the BJP. We have never lookedback since then."

When general elections in India were announced recently, the OFBJP,which has chapters in New Jersey, Illinois, Texas, California and Washington DC, tried tocrank up its efforts to shore up the BJP’s image in the US. They have two audiencesto deal with: the Indian American community, which has overwhelmingly supported the BJP inthe just concluded elections, and mainstream America, which doesn’t know too muchabout the BJP.

As for lobbying on Capitol Hill, even Indian diplomats admit to theorganisational abilities of the so-called parivar in the US. "I can count only on theBJP and RSS types to deliver on the Hill when we need support concerning some of ourissues; you know, issues like the (anti-India) Burton amendment or the Brown amendment.They back India’s cause with no questions or favours asked," says a seniorIndian official. Indeed even the US establishment has been penetrated. Recently, an Indianofficial visiting an American lawmaker, who enjoys much support among the country’sIndian community, presented a grim analysis of the BJP. Only to be interrupted by thelawmaker’s assistant, whose very different view on the BJP then prevailed. Theassistant, it turned out, was a former member of the Hindu Students Council, a part of theAmerican parivar.

The OFBJP has partially succeeded in its mission to present a positiveimage in the American mainstream. As an administration official says privately:"These guys are not too sophisticated or suave. But they are persistent anddon’t give up easily. So, they won over important allies on the Hill, in theadministration and in a few think-tanks. They have even networked with other lobbyingorganisations to penetrate the higher echelons of power in Washington. We have to listento them." And that’s no mean success.