Punjab polls fail to enthuse non-resident Indians despite attempts

CHANDIGARH: Punjab polls have failed to enthuse non-resident Indiansdespite the attempts of all major political parties of the state to reach out to them ever since Manpreet Singh Badal addressed a sizeable gathering during his visit to Canada.

Just 54 NRIs have registered with the Election Commission so far. Political parties are, however, keen to woo the NRIs because they send considerable sums of money back home where they have extended families and continue to wield influence.

Badal, the estranged nephew of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and president of the People's Party of Punjab, created a stir when he addressed about 20,000 NRIs in Stetson Bowl in Surrey last year. Soon thereafter, the Akali Dal dispatched its NRI affairs minister Balbir Singh Bath to Canada.

Amarinder Singh, former chief minister and president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, too went live on a few Canadian and American radio stations. The Congress party also deputed Jassi Khangura, a former NRI and its MLA from Qila Raipur, to reach out to various NRI groups in Canada, the US and Europe.

"NRIs can sway votes from overseas as well because they fund campaigns and still have their relatives in India," says Sucha Singh Gill, director of Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development.

"NRIs can make their presence felt, but their own participation in the electoral process is negligible," he said. Especially in the Doaba region,there is scarcely any village with a family that doesn't have a relative settled abroad.

The NRIs won the right to vote in Indian elections following a notification by the Centre in November 2010. In Kerala, while 8,500 NRIs enrolled as voters, 4,500 exercised their right to vote during the last assembly elections.

Many NRIs, however, allege that they are being threatened and told to stay away from the polls in Punjab. "I have been getting threatening calls for the past few months not to come to Punjab during election time. Some of my fellow NRI friends have even taken up this issue with the Punjab government, but we don't expect much from that quarter," said Sukhi Chahal, a member of the North American Punjabi Association.

More than 18,000 NRIs are entangled in litigation in Punjab, where 6,000 of them have been declared proclaimed offenders. The NRIs say they are a soft target for the land mafia which they claim operates hand in glove with the state authorities.

This makes them hesitant investors in their native state, they say. "The Akali government should explain how they have helped the NRIs? What will be the fate of the 6,000 NRIs who have been declared proclaimed offenders by the police?" says Khangura.