Rahul Gandhi seeks to woo NRIs in Dubai, Bahrain with New Year visits, but Narendra Modi's persona may impact attendance

Rahul Gandhi will be visiting Dubai on 9 January, 2018, after his trip to Bahrain on 7 and 8 January where he is going to attend the biennial conference of the Global Organisation of Persons of Indian Origin (GOPIO). Founded in New York in 1989, the GOPIO’s premise was to defend Indians against human rights violations and continues to fight for persons of Indian origin (PIOs) all over the world. The organisation is accredited by the United Nations to participate as an NGO in the World Conference Against Racism. [caption id=“attachment_4266353” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] Members of this organisation have gone on to become prime ministers of countries like Mauritius, Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore and Guyana. Perhaps Gandhi is hoping that by being there some of that ambitious magic might wear off on him. But that crack aside, it is a decent platform although one is not quite sure why Gandhi is going to Dubai after that. It is reported that the AICC is chalking out his programme under the guidance of Arithi Krishna, currently deputy chairman for the NRI forum in the Karnataka government. Amongst the more prominent Congress luminaries expected to accompany the newly anointed Congress president from his Bahrain trip are Shashi Tharoor and Sam Petroda. According to certain sources in the planning cell, the meeting was planned to take place at the iconic Sharjah stadium, the venue for the recently concluded and highly successful T10 cricket tournament which has a seating capacity of 19,000 people. But there is a hesitation now because in case his presence fails to draw a major crowd, the optics of an unfilled stadium may be uncomfortable. However, an interaction with NRIs might still be on the cards at a more enclosed venue. Also, sensibly, no political speeches are encouraged in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and if there is an address to be made it has to be general and oriented towards exhorting the NRIs to be good ambassadors of their country. According to one report, the organisers expect at least 20,000 ‘fans’ but that is a bit on the hopeful side. A quarter of that would be huge. The same sort of discomfort seems to be filtering through the ranks of the high profile Indians who are not quite sure if they should fetch up. Usually, they are willing to squabble over ‘who sits closer’ to any VIP visiting from India, but there are apprehensions of being ‘watched’ and of possible repercussions in the aftermath. As such, any meet and greet initiative designed to hedge bets will be low key and muted and one should not expect the sort of pell-mell rush by the so-called movers and shakers that marked the Narendra Modi visit after he took over as Prime Minister of India. What if he (Modi) gets upset seems to be an unspoken consideration, so, step lightly. That said there is a certain curiosity factor that might kick in and one can expect ‘volunteers’ with a Congress leaning to exhort the Hurrah Henry NRIs to come and chat informally with the new kid on the block. Gandhi has also expressed a desire to mix with the Indian youth and a chat in one of the campuses might also be included what with over 10,000 college-going Indians in the UAE. It is unlikely that the embassy or consulate will make any effort beyond what is the norm for a leader of the Opposition and it is believed that a visit to the beautiful gurudwara, Guru Nanak Darbar, is on the agenda. Although there have been inspiring speeches at the Sikh house of worship designed to create togetherness, feed the poor, help the needy and promote oneness and pursue the government policies of happiness and prosperity for all, it is unlikely Gandhi will pick up a microphone there during this visit, nor should he?