BJP campaign gets a US touch

[Guest guest]

>BJP campaign gets a US touch

>HIMANSHI DHAWAN

>TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, MAY 05, 2004 01:02:10 AM ]

>http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/659451.cms

>

>NEW DELHI : This is one foreign connection that BJP has no objection to.

>About

>20 delegates from the United States , including New York , Pennsylvania and

>Houston have been travelling across the country since April to campaign for

>the

>BJP.

>

>Delhi is the current pit-stop for these delegates who plan to stay till May

>13

>to canvass for the party.

>

>According to the secretary, Overseas Friends of BJP, USA , Jagdish Sewhani,

>"The

>US is our karma bhoomi but India is our matri bhoomi. Our support is

>symbolic."

>

>

>The delegates are speaking to friends and relatives and assisting BJP in

>its

>campaign in Delhi for the past three days and enjoying it immensely.

>

>Delhites could, in fact, take a lesson or two from the patriotism which

>these

>delegates are wearing on their sleeve, "I have left my business unattended,

>but

>this is not about money. This is about our Indianness. Politically, we are

>not

>Indian subjects, but there has been a tremendous change in the way Indians

>are

>looked at in the US in the past five years," Gitesh Desai, a Houston

>resident

>said.

>

>Other delegates travelled to Mumbai, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Andhra

>Pradesh to

>campaign for the BJP there. These days, the group is busy attending

>meetings,

>door-to-door campaigning and addressing informal gatherings.

>

>

>On the response to this unusual kind of "party worker" Desai said: "People

>usually ask ‘Why BJP?’ We talk to them about the economic growth and how

>India

>is viewed as a nuclear power. It is no longer the land of the Taj Mahal and

>snake charmers for Americans. It is now seen as a country that has given

>impetus to the IT boom and call centres."

>

>It is not as if work has just begun. The Overseas group and its members in

>several parts of the US have been issuing advertisements in Indian

>newspapers,

>calling friends and sending e-mails to garner support for the party for the

>past two months.

>

>

>

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