Print media representations of politics and the Indian community ranges from stories on appointments - Karan K. Bhatia¿s elevation to the post of assistant secretary of Transportation for Aviation and International Affairs in the Bush administration (India Today, July 28, 2003) - to ¿Clinton¿s India Connection¿ (Sunday Times of India, 24 August 2003). The latter profiles people who form ¿a part of his (Clinton¿s) charmed circle. They all are high-fliers in their respective fields. And they all happen to be of Indian origin¿. Clinton¿s high profile visit to India during his presidency and his continuing engagement with the country (the deal on low cost AIDS drugs, for instance) lend him a Midas quality that transforms and elevates the people of Indian origin in the US who are associated with him. In the UK Rashmee Z. Ahmed profiled Uma Fernandes ¿waiting to make history as the Conservative Party¿s first woman MP of Indian origin and Hindu birth¿ (¿Will Brent East Make History?¿ TOI, 17.09.2003). The article concentrates on the Hindu identity of the politician asserting that ¿sections of Brent East are miffed with Tony Blair¿s incumbent party because it refused to field a Hindu for parliament. In theory, the Hindu anger could make history.¿ In actuality ¿Hindu anger¿ did not translate into victory in the parliamentary by-election for Uma Fernandes and what is obviously significant is the idea that it would or should have done so. The article creates an affinity between ¿Hindu anger¿ in India and that in Brent East which is historically false and politically unsustainable. The discourse of ¿Hindu anger¿ so prevalent in political discourse in India over the past decade is pasted on to Brent East without analysis. Uma Fernandes featured in just this one article in the print media in India and dropped out of the news because she lost. Yet this piece points to more dangerous liaisons and desires whereby the Indian diaspora is appropriated by the media to create the sense of a pan Indian and global Hindu identity, a project ably furthered by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Someone who did stay in the news during his campaign for governor of Louisiana was Bobby Jindal. There was a flurry of articles, an editorial, and a feature on the Indian-American¿s strong bid for political office. A feature in the Sunday Times, 26 October 2003, indicated that he had ¿dropped his first name Piyush at the age of four in favour of Bobby after a character on the popular TV show The Brady Bunch.¿ He converted to Catholicism and ¿while filing his papers for the governor¿s election, Jindal left the column for race blank¿. This apparent race blindness is what India Today defined as ¿cultural osmosis at its best¿ (Anil Padmanabhan, ¿What Makes Bobby Tick¿ India Today, October 20, 2003). The problematic and seemingly effortless jettisoning of race was further complicated by the fact that ¿Jindal […] forged ahead not on the basis of minority support but on a hard, right, white, conservative platform that includes opposing gun control and abortion¿ (Chidanand Rajghatta, ¿Jindal rises to the top¿, (Times of India , 01.10.2003).
In a state that last elected a black governor in the 1870s and once had David Duke of the Ku Klux Klan as gubernatorial front runner, Jindal¿s embracing of the Republican agenda and his valorisation in the Indian media has interesting spin offs. According to Padmanabhan ¿Many conservatives believe that Jindal¿s political ascendancy could be a boost to Bush¿s South Asia policy. Especially in improving relations with India, a country they see as a critical ally in the fight against Islamic fundamentalism.¿ While this analysis ignores the contradictions in Jindal¿s own statements and positioning as a mainstream American, it gets to the nub of the matter in its championing of a conservative grand alliance between the US and India against ¿Islamic fundamentalism¿ of which Jindal is a potent symbol. The Catholic convert immigrant from Delhi is metonymically transformed into the right wing soldier who shall fight the forces of ¿Islamic fundamentalism¿. This would partly explain the Indian media¿s fascination with the Jindal campaign for it fed into a dominant political discourse of a state besieged from within and without by the forces of reactionary Islam.
In passing one may note the extent to which immigrant Indians in the US and UK have contributed funding and support to right wing organisations in India, particularly in Gujarat. In an editorial, ¿American Desi: The Indian media¿s hype over Bobby Jindal is misplaced¿ (TOI, 16.10.2003), The Times of India attempted to place the media coverage in perspective. It noted that ¿Bobby Jindal has captured our imagination because he seems so much an integral part of a collective narrative - of our pride and imagination: The story of the great Indian diaspora conquering the world.¿ It went on to state that ¿Mr Jindal is the equivalent of a born-again immigrant who is brown in nothing but his skin colour¿ and asked the question that I have raised, ¿Why then are we so keen to corral him as an "Indian" and dub his achievements as a great Indian success story?¿ In attempting to answer this question the editorial veered into an essentialist and conveniently evasive niche with references to Mother Teresa, A O Hume, and Annie Besant, reflecting on what it called an ¿old innocence, where identity was a state of mind rather than a fact of biology or geography¿.
At one level it is remarkable that the Times of India editorially raised some uncomfortable questions about the lionising of Jindal in the Indian media, this despite the slew of articles on the subject that the paper carried. At another level, the constructed nostalgia of an apolitical, universal identity - where all who are associated with India become Indians by some magic of ¿cultural osmosis¿ - relates precisely to the ¿collective narrative¿ of immigrant Indians as global players and their glory reflecting the resurgence of a shining India. Jindal¿s defeat in the election was widely covered in print and on television with some dark mutterings about racial prejudice that allowed his rival Kathleen Blanco to triumph. In the reportage of the defeat Jindal¿s own disavowal of racial identity seemed to be forgotten. Identity as a ¿state of mind¿ was replaced in defeat by crude generalisations about race and racism in American politics. It was as if another opportunity for bolstering Indo-US conservative alliances and the fight against demonic Islam had been inexplicably defeated.
While extolling the achievements and presence of immigrant Indians in the US and UK the reportage that I have considered thus far ignores an underlying cause of that immigration: economic betterment. Whether it was Indian doctors joining the National Health Service in the UK or cab drivers in New York or techies in Silicon Valley, the flight from India was largely predicated on the desire for a better quality of life in the west. In the pre-liberalization era this migration was berated and bemoaned in terms of a ¿brain drain¿; in the age of the global Indian this phenomenon is co-opted into a larger narrative of a resurgent India.
In fact the IT revolution and India¿s eminent position within that world - Narayanmurthy¿s recent putdown notwithstanding - is attributed precisely to those IIT graduates who fled the mother country. Occasionally, however, as in Shobha John¿s article ¿20 percent IIT-ians still leave India… And we thought brain drain was over¿ ( Sunday Times, Sunday Special, 03.08.2003) we return to the theme of qualified but dispirited Indians leaving for better opportunities abroad.
The article details the fact that 15-20% of IIT graduates leave India for the US which is more attractive because of higher salaries. A B.Tech in the US earns $40, -6000 p.a., a PhD in finance $130,000 p.a., an engineering PhD from IIT $70,000 p.a. In contrast a B.Tech in India fetches Rs.20,000 p.m., an MBA with engineering degree Rs. 40-80,000 p.m. While the salary differential is substantial it is not absolute for it does not take into account differences within the Indian context where millions are either unemployed or live on less than a dollar a day.
The latter do not exist in the imagination and lexicon of media reportage except when they crop up inconveniently in news items of dead or deported migrants. Their desire to belong to the global community is occasionally reflected in immigration scams attributed to the likes of Daler Mehendi and Mallika Sarabhai. In the latter case it is interesting to note the ways in which nativism (the Gujarati asmita insulted by Sarabhai¿s outspokenness on the Gujarat riots) is combined with a vestigial suspicion of immigration which is then used as a convenient ploy to nail the activist. Simultaneously Gujarat¿s Chief Minister woos the diasporic Gujarati with dreams of an investment haven. These connections and patterns are not mentioned in the media.
John writes that a better work environment in the US also lures the IIT graduate and quotes several immigrants. ¿You are given credit for what you do. Facilities are excellent.¿ In India ¿the environment - corruption, inefficiency, bijli pani issues - drains one out.¿ ¿There is less pay here, politics, company promises which are not adhered to, no work culture, and lack of transparency.¿ The contrast between a hopelessly backward India and an efficiently utopic US may be exaggerated but it gives the lie to the projection of a continually progressive India.
Despite this damning indictment the article ends on a note of hope that the ¿brain drain¿ will be reversed. John quotes one Abhijit Choudhury - IIT-KGP, 1972 - currently teaching business strategy and technology at Bryant College, Rhode Island: ¿Reverse brain drain is bound to happen. As the economy grows, the number of Indians going back to India would increase. India would get back its best and brightest, but only after suitable exposure to the West.¿ In Choudhary¿s formulation immigration is a type of rite of passage, a staging point after which India¿s sons will return to the motherland. In that return lies the hope for the future of India, a hope patiently cultivated by the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. Why this reversal will happen is neither explained nor analysed in this article, it is seen as an inevitability that will wish away the corruption and inefficiency, the lack of work culture and transparency that led to the migration.
Two Sundays later Shobha John dwelt on the reasons why Indian immigrants were returning (¿The brains are coming back after the drain¿, Sunday Times , 17.08.2003) without addressing the issues raised in her earlier piece. ¿What brings them back? A dream.¿ Dr Parag Bhargava articulates one such dream: ¿My friends and I wanted to apply our ideas to root out illiteracy from India. It materialised with the birth of Prabudha Bharat, a group running an education-cum-library-cum-activity centre for poor children near IIT.¿ Despite lack of detail this dream is at least cognisant of poverty and illiteracy in India. For Jayant Sinha, formerly of IIT Delhi and Harvard and a partner in McKinsey India ¿is an exciting place to be in. We are now entering a new phase of nation-building. Technology, IT services and telecom are all growing rapidly in India¿. Sinha¿s dream is perhaps the more dominant one eyeing the huge market potential inherent in the country and ¿nation-building¿ can comfortably coexist with profit making. Despite the fact that India has 2% of the world market share in IT services it is a myth of economic prowess that sits easily with the idea of India as a global presence.
Another reason for the return of immigrants is the constant fear of losing jobs and the desire to refocus on family ties. This is particularly true post 9/11 and the economic recession in the US. ¿The US always seemed alien¿ says one returnee. The sense of alienation is related to homesickness and an emphasis on cultural rootedness. Dr Bhargava says he ¿found a certain shallowness abroad¿. This relates to earlier representations of the NRI as deracinated and desirous of the ¿substance¿ offered by home, a myth of ¿depth¿ in India that can be recovered and is enabling for the returnee. A further link is available in the desire to raise children in an Indian milieu so that they are not deprived of their cultural capital. Thus while the global Indian is valorised for his deeds abroad the true worth of his being is revealed when he returns to his roots thereby validating the intrinsic value of the country of origin.
Anil Padmanabhan in ¿Return Flight¿ (India Today, August 11, 2003) celebrates the phenomenon of reverse ¿brain drain¿: ¿the expatriates are coming back. The epiphany that had lured them to the US has been transferred to their native land - complete with a robust economy, infinitesimal opportunities and improved lifestyles - and it is drawing them back to their own country¿. Like John, Padmanabhan attributes the return to the collapse of the ¿Great American Dream¿ and 9/11. ¿"No matter how long you stay in the US, you are always singled out; you are identified with your colour and background,"¿ says Dheeraj Bharadwaj, who is returning to IIT Delhi, his alma mater after three years in the US. ¿"Nowhere else can one get the kind of freedom found in India,"¿ says Bharadwaj. 9/11 is an epochal moment for these returnees, as they seem to wake up to the reality of racism and the underside of the American Dream. The article does not mention the extent to which post 9/11 America has undermined civil liberties within the country nor does it deal with problems of the US as a multicultural haven.
This lack of critical consciousness is evident in the ways in which India Today and The Times of India continue to celebrate the diaspora at the same time as they project returning Indians as a sign of India¿s development. As Kiran Karnik, Chairperson, NASSCOM, puts it, ¿"Most of our bright talent used to go overseas and never come back. Now we will see a two-way mobility which is good. The quality of life in India is much better and jobs too have become better both in terms of material benefits and professional challenges."¿ While John¿s first article included an element of criticism regarding the work ethic and environment in India, Padmanabhan is entirely celebratory. In fact he seems to specialise in feel good despatches.
The quality of life has certainly improved for the NRI and MNCs ensconced in Gurgaon or Noida with their shopping malls and apartment blocks named Hamilton Court, Richmond, Carlton, and Beverley Park. The nomenclature and mall culture represents a desire for the desi as well as a return ¿home¿ for the NRI. It is crucial that ¿home¿ for the NRI is a spatial construction that should approximate as far as possible to the lifestyle that he and his kids were used to in the US. The social and cultural aspect of ¿home¿ can include more ¿Indian¿ aspects such as tradition and ceremony. The pride in globalization, however, barely conceals the underbelly of that process and deepening inequities within the nation. India¿s 8% GDP growth is seldom contextualised in terms of illiteracy, poverty, or the bijli-pani problems that beset the exclusive enclaves of the nostalgic NRI. The reference to improved quality of life seems ironic in the context of a recent survey that rated Delhi as one of the worst cities to live in where expatriates had to be lured with hefty hardship packages (Times, 12.02.2004). The dominant rhetoric, however, is one of celebration whereby the ¿two-way mobility¿ of the global Indian creates its own momentum of growth and development, never mind the irritants that litter ones existence.
That the feel good syndrome has a teflon hide is revealed in Kankana Datta¿s article ¿Cutting-edge Dilbert hits out at Indian techies¿ (Times, 17.09.2003) where she sees the Scott Adams cult comic strip satire on IIT grads as indicative of their stature in the US. As Amit Pande, an IIT-ian puts it, ¿"I love it that the IITs have created so much panic. As usual Adams is ahead of the pack in anticipating media and public opinion about IIT grads."¿ In terms of media coverage the situation is a win-win one: upmarket, tech savvy Indians are making a mark in the US or are returning to India.