{"id":2317,"date":"2014-10-01T16:29:29","date_gmt":"2014-10-01T20:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/?p=2317"},"modified":"2014-10-02T11:05:45","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T15:05:45","slug":"muslims-en-masse-for-modi-at-madison-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/10\/muslims-en-masse-for-modi-at-madison-square.html","title":{"rendered":"Muslims en masse for Modi at Madison Square"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_2318\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2318\" style=\"width: 340px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/75\/2014\/10\/28_modi_supporters_2130093g.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/75\/2014\/10\/28_modi_supporters_2130093g.jpg\" alt=\"Dawoodi Bohra muslim Americans supporting PM Modi in New York\" width=\"340\" height=\"430\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2318\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2318\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dawoodi Bohra muslim Americans supporting PM Modi in New York<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi <a href=\"http:\/\/www.firstpost.com\/world\/modi-woos-with-mom-life-visas-imports-indian-pride-to-madison-square-1734503.html\">spoke to a huge crowd of Indian expats in New York City on Monday night<\/a>, outlining his vision of India&#8217;s future and making an explicit appeal to the NRI community to support their home country &#8211; particularly with their wallets. Modi was also saavy enough to recognize that visas remain a perennial hassle for NRIs seeking to visit the homeland, and proposed a long-overdue simplification &#8211; combining OCI and PIO cards into one. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Modi did a fantastic job of making the audience feel that they weren\u2019t \u2018that thing\u2019 called a NRI or Not Really Indian, but stakeholders in developing India.<\/p>\n<p>He struck a chord by announcing plans to simplify the immigration bureaucracy for Indians living abroad. He announced life time visas for persons of Indian origin (PIO) cardholders.<\/p>\n<p>And in further good news for NRIs with foreign spouses, he said that PIO and OCI cards would be rolled into one card. He also said his government was working towards giving US nationals long-term visas and a visa on arrival following electronic travel authorization.<\/p>\n<p>Modi reached out to India&#8217;s US diaspora, a highly educated population of nearly 3.2 million, to invest and \u201cMake in India.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIndia has three strengths no country in the world has: Democracy, demographic dividend, and demand,\u201d said Modi speaking extempore in Hindi.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The official twitter account for the PM&#8217;s office also confirmed the news about PIO cards:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">PIO card holders- they have lot of visa issues. We decided they will get lifelong visas: PM<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; PMO India (@PMOIndia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PMOIndia\/status\/516276724804243457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 28, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Those who stay in India for long have to go to police stations too. They won&#39;t have to do that now: PM on issues of PIO card holders<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; PMO India (@PMOIndia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PMOIndia\/status\/516276914344820736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 28, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In some time we will merge PIO and OCI schemes and make it one: PM <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/narendramodi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@narendramodi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; PMO India (@PMOIndia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PMOIndia\/status\/516277184580055040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 28, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A new scheme will be in place soon: PM<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; PMO India (@PMOIndia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PMOIndia\/status\/516277264825081857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 28, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In a show of support that was widely noted by the media, <a href=\"http:\/\/articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com\/2014-09-28\/news\/54400343_1_indian-american-community-foundation-bohra-muslims\">100 members of my own community<\/a>, the Dawoodi Bohras, were in attendance to show their support for Modi and their pride in India. It may seem odd that muslims, especially a primarily Gujarati muslim community like the Bohras, would support Modi in any fashion after his role in orchestrating the 2002 anti-muslim riots in Gujrat. However, Bohras were not alone in supporting Modi &#8211; there are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.anindianmuslim.com\/2014\/05\/an-indian-muslims-letter-to-congress.html\">many legitimate reasons for Muslims to be disenchanted with the Congress Party<\/a>, and as a result Modi attracted <a href=\"http:\/\/thediplomat.com\/2014\/05\/indias-muslims-arent-all-skeptical-of-modi-and-the-bjp\/\">substantial Muslim support from all across India<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>the BJP won 71 out of 80 seats in the populous northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where Muslims are over a fifth of the population. This feat would have been mathematically impossible if all of the state\u2019s Muslims voted for non-BJP candidates, even if their votes were split among several parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party, and the Congress Party. According to BJP party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, around <a href=\"http:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/politics-and-nation\/more-muslims-voted-for-bjp-this-time-mukhtar-abbas-naqvi\/articleshow\/35606651.cms\">14-15 percent of India\u2019s Muslims voted for the BJP<\/a>.  This is a vast improvement over the <a href=\"http:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/politics-and-nation\/more-muslims-voted-for-bjp-this-time-mukhtar-abbas-naqvi\/articleshow\/35606651.cms\">2-3 percent garnered in previous elections<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In Gujrat, the state where the riots occurred, a <a href=\"http:\/\/ibnlive.in.com\/group-blog\/the-india-blog\/3581\/why-gujarati-muslims-are-with-modi\/64627.html\">substantial fraction of Muslims (not just Bohras) supported the BJP and Modi<\/a>, for entirely pragmatic reasons. A major driver is economic growth under Modi, with policies of economic inclusion for muslim groups and a real sense that Modi has made an effort to hear Muslim voices:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In the past, people of Gujarat always lived under the fear of communal riots but efforts and endeavours of prominent Muslims had made it possible for numerous Muslim delegations &#8211; Islamic scholars, businessmen, youth, women and even street hawkers to meet Modi. He has met them all and given an ear to their grievances. This was something the Muslims had not seen in the last 40 years of Congress rule. Muslim madarsas were supported. Madarsa students, who had never seen or gone to a school, got a chance to appear for SSC and class XIIth examinations. The famous Sarkhej Roza which was in dilapidated condition was renovated and restored. The numbers of Muslim-owned schools and hospitals in the state have increased. Economic prosperity too has visited Muslim households and as a result, the record turn-out by Muslims to vote for Narendra Modi.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Bohras in particular are apolitical and have a strong sense of civic identity; Modi was elected PM by the Indian electorate, so Bohras&#8217; support for him is an expression of the community&#8217;s belief in India&#8217;s democracy and a genuine desire to move the country as a whole forward. The PM is also keenly aware of the optics of having widespread Muslim support, as an immunization against his human rights record &#8211; so in an odd way, supporting him also ensures that he keeps issues affecting Muslims in India on his agenda. <\/p>\n<p>In an odd coincidence &#8211; this was the same night as the football game where there was a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/09\/hussein-abdullah-gets-a-penalty-for-doing-sajda-in-the-endzone-on-monday-night-football.html\">sajda in the endzone<\/a> \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to a huge crowd of Indian expats in New York City on Monday night, outlining his vision of India&#8217;s future and making an explicit appeal to the NRI community to support their home country &#8211; particularly with their wallets. Modi was also saavy enough to recognize that visas&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[454,411,138,458,33,28],"class_list":["post-2317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-identify-yourself","tag-dawoodi-bohras","tag-gujrat-riots","tag-india","tag-modi","tag-muslim-americans","tag-muslims"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Muslims en masse for Modi at Madison Square - City of Brass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Muslims en masse for Modi at Madison Square - City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to a huge crowd of Indian expats in New York City on Monday night, outlining his vision of India&#8217;s future and making an explicit appeal to the NRI community to support their home country &#8211; particularly with their wallets. Modi was also saavy enough to recognize that visas&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/10\/muslims-en-masse-for-modi-at-madison-square.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"City of Brass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-01T20:29:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-02T15:05:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/files\/2014\/10\/28_modi_supporters_2130093g.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aziz Poonawalla\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Muslims en masse for Modi at Madison Square - City of Brass","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Muslims en masse for Modi at Madison Square - City of Brass","og_description":"Newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to a huge crowd of Indian expats in New York City on Monday night, outlining his vision of India&#8217;s future and making an explicit appeal to the NRI community to support their home country &#8211; particularly with their wallets. Modi was also saavy enough to recognize that visas&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/10\/muslims-en-masse-for-modi-at-madison-square.html","og_site_name":"City of Brass","article_published_time":"2014-10-01T20:29:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-02T15:05:45+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/files\/2014\/10\/28_modi_supporters_2130093g.jpg"}],"author":"Aziz Poonawalla","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/10\/muslims-en-masse-for-modi-at-madison-square.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/10\/muslims-en-masse-for-modi-at-madison-square.html","name":"Muslims en masse for Modi at Madison Square - City of Brass","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/10\/muslims-en-masse-for-modi-at-madison-square.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/10\/muslims-en-masse-for-modi-at-madison-square.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/files\/2014\/10\/28_modi_supporters_2130093g.jpg","datePublished":"2014-10-01T20:29:29+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-02T15:05:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/87dfd5533a0222456bb5ad6eaf152fbb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/10\/muslims-en-masse-for-modi-at-madison-square.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/10\/muslims-en-masse-for-modi-at-madison-square.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/10\/muslims-en-masse-for-modi-at-madison-square.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/files\/2014\/10\/28_modi_supporters_2130093g.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/files\/2014\/10\/28_modi_supporters_2130093g.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/2014\/10\/muslims-en-masse-for-modi-at-madison-square.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Muslims en masse for Modi at Madison Square"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/","name":"City of Brass","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Aziz Poonawalla","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/87dfd5533a0222456bb5ad6eaf152fbb","name":"Aziz Poonawalla","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a95\/a95f814e7f2984c887f3b03aed357433x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a95\/a95f814e7f2984c887f3b03aed357433x96.jpg","caption":"Aziz Poonawalla"},"description":"Aziz Poonawalla is a member of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, and currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. City of Brass is his weblog, which was founded in 2002 under the name UNMEDIA. He is a co-founder of the annual Brass Crescent Awards. The name City of Brass refers to the Story of the City of Brass in the Thousand and One Nights, and the poem by Rudyard Kipling of the same name: Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; And in this palace is the last information respecting lords collected in the dust. -- Thousand and One Nights, Story of the City of Brass IN A land that the sand overlays, the ways to her gates are untrod, A multitude ended their days whose fates were made splendid by God, Till they grew drunk and were smitten with madness and went to their fall, And of these is a story written: but Allah Alone knoweth all! -- Rudyard Kipling, The City of Brass (1909)"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2317"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2324,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2317\/revisions\/2324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/cityofbrass\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}