Narendra Modi to mobilize India's diaspora during US visit

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit the United States this weekend, with several stops on the agenda including attending the Quad leaders' summit, addressing the "Summit of the Future" at the UN General Assembly and meeting with CEOs of several leading US-based companies.

And continuing a signature move whenever visiting a foreign country, Modi will meet with members of India's diaspora.

On Sunday, the prime minister is expected to address an event dubbed "Modi & US Progress Together" at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island, New York.

Organizers said the event has received more than 25,000 registrations, although the venue has a capacity of just 15,000.

"These meetings have a huge impact. It builds up morale and confidence among the Indian diaspora in the US and nurtures a connection with India which should never be forgotten," Jeevan Zutshi, founder of the Indo-American Community Federation, an organizer for the New York event, told DW.

Indian PM on US roadshow

Modi's efforts to deepen ties with the Indian diaspora has become a regular feature when he travels abroad. Attendance at overseas jamborees are well-managed and designed events that can, at times, overshadow the official state visit to a country.

In 2014, Modi's address to 20,000 Indian Americans at Madison Square Garden in New York City set the tone for his diaspora outreach.

Two years later, Indians lined up to shake hands and take selfies with Modi at a civic reception when he visited Silicon Valley, in California.

In 2019, at the biggest community event yet dubbed "Howdy Modi," the prime minister addressed over 50,000 people in Houston, Texas.

"Prime Minister Modi's large-scale diaspora events during his foreign visits have become a significant part of his diplomatic toolkit, marking a notable shift in how India engages with its diaspora abroad," Chetan Rana, an associate editor at 9dashline, an online geopolitical consultancy, told DW.

Diaspora as secret ingredient of Modi's diplomacy

Rana, who has researched how Modi engages with Indian Americans, said the way Modi uses these massive public gatherings is a unique part of his foreign policy.

"These events, akin to political rallies in India, serve multiple purposes beyond just strengthening ties with the Indian diaspora," he said.

Rana said diaspora rallies are carefully choreographed public relations events that elevate Modi's image as a global leader, and they help fuel the domestic right-wing agenda that supports his growing personal brand.

"Even though Modi's speeches to the diaspora may tone down the overt Hindutva rhetoric used in India, the underlying nationalistic tones remain evident," he added.

Millions of Indian Americans in US

The Indian diaspora is one of the largest in the world, with an over 35 million people residing outside of India as of May this year, according to India's External Affairs Ministry.

Indian Americans, now a community of nearly 5 million strong, have emerged as one of the most influential immigrant groups in the US.

Besides the US, the Indian diaspora is prosperous and well-established in the United Arab Emirates, the UK and Australia.

The growing strength of the Indian diaspora is also becoming more visible as Indians take on high-level business positions and government jobs in the US.

Academics point out that Modi's community events are not just symbolic gestures of engagement, but are designed to activate the diaspora's transnational identity, turning them into key players in lobbying, investment and technological partnerships.

"Modi's diaspora outreach in the US has become an annual feature in his US visits. As the Indian diaspora is not a monolith and is multigenerational, his focus is to ensure that the diaspora continues to be an advantage rather than a liability," K.P. Vijayalakshmi, a professor of geopolitics at the Manipal Academy of Higher Education in southern India, told DW.

"His fundamental interest is in persuading the diaspora to be part of India's growth story," she said.

BJP building long-term foreign policy strategy

Strategic expert Raja Mohan told DW that connecting and building bridges with Indian communities abroad has been a major goal of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for decades.

"Modi has taken this outreach to another level and now it is part of the BJP's playbook that has helped the party's presence grow around the world, especially Western democracies where a huge chunk of the Indian diaspora is concentrated," said Mohan, a visiting professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies at Singapore's National University.

Mohan added that other political parties, including the opposition Congress, were also reaching out through the Indian Overseas Congress. The regional DMK party is also making an effort to connect with Tamils living abroad.

Many of these events involves months of planning, money, organizational skills and pulling together disparate groups of the Indian diaspora.

Modi's outreach builds engagement 

Amitabh Mattoo, an international relations expert and professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, told DW that Modi's outreach to the diaspora is best described as an exercise in "extraterritorial nationalism" that serves multiple strategic and diplomatic purposes.

"It is also meant for strengthening bilateral ties, cultural diplomacy, economic contributions, building networks and political engagement," said Mattoo.

According to Rana, by casting Modi as a leader deeply connected with a prosperous diaspora, these events also contribute to marginalizing dissent and focusing the narrative on India's rise.

"With resistance to Modi marginalized, it also helps foreign leaders to engage with him. For foreign leaders, India remains a key ally, and Modi is the face through which these relationships are brokered, often sidelining concerns about India's domestic policies in favor of strategic or economic cooperation," said Rana.

Edited by: Wesley Rahn