About Me

Rebel without a cause!

Friday, December 07, 2007

Guajrat and NRIs(Macaccas)

The western state of Gujarat in India is going for polls and the ruling BJP government headed by Mr. Narendra Modi is trying to get re-elected. Modi is a polarizing leader with strong supporters and virulent opposers. But this speech by Modi goes way above the limit.

So what does that have to do with me, an NRI? Well firstly, Gujarat is the home state of nearly 40% of NRI's atleast in the USA. But apart from that, this again provides a justification for posts like these and these, where NRI bloggers have attacked the record of freedom in India and they have been opposed by other NRI bloggers for being armchair critic.

While I do agree that just because someone is an armchair critic, his arguments cannot be trivialized but I also feel that it is understandable for them to be given less credibility. And the sad thing is that this issue is indeed very important and the recent Gujarat speech is a good example of that.

As like countless other NRIs, I came over to America not looking for more freedom, but for opportunity (economic and otherwise). So, it does seem a bit silly to criticize India and say that we won't go back because of lack of freedom. I think that both India and US have their share of problems in this regard and neither is superior to the other. Though life in US seems to be infinitely more comfortable (as it is in countries like Singapore, Malaysia etc).

There are problems aplenty in India. The question is whether to remain an armchair critic or do something about it.

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