Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's address to Indian Overseas Congress and Organisations

"I am delighted to be here this evening with you and thank you for your warm and hearty welcome. You represent not only a wide cross-section of the Indian and Indian American community in the United States but also the true face of "India" - united in your diversity, committed to the principles of democratic pluralism and the freedom of association and enterprise that both India and the United States of America so cherish.

India and the Untied States are often described as the world's largest and biggest democracies bound together by our commitment to the values and principles of pluralism and liberalism. These phrases may sound hackneyed and worn out but today they have acquired a new resonance. Both President Bush and I agreed when we met earlier this week that our mutual commitment to democracy remains an important bridge linking our two countries.

This shared experience of growing up in a democracy is an important aspect of our collective psyche. We have learnt from our childhood to respect the rule of law and the right to hold and express one's opinion. We have learnt to value the freedom of association and enterprise. We have learnt to cherish the pluralism inherent to our multi-cultural, multi-religious, multi-linguistic and multi-ethnic nations.

You, Indian Americans and Overseas Indians, have set an example to many other communities and ethnic groups by the manner in which you have integrated here. You live in peace with your neighbours, you contribute to the prosperity of your communities, the productivity of your workplaces and the creativity of your academic, cultural and knowledge based organizations.

I am particularly delighted to be here this evening with you because in many ways you and the organizations that are assembled here represent the true character of our diverse and plural society. If there is one thing that is truly common between India and the United States of America it is this multi-faceted character of our national personality. Some call America a "melting pot" and others describe it as a "salad bowl". But then, this is exactly the way in which we have come to define our nation. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru talked of "Unity in Diversity". Our Constitution is based on this principle. Our national identity is based on this value. For centuries we have been an open society, a "melting pot" and a "salad bowl". There is no nation in the world that is home to as many languages, as many religions, as many cuisines, as many traditions of song and dance, as many colours of skin and shapes of the eye, as India.

You, my friends in the Indian Overseas Congress and other organizations here bring to this diverse nation the values and ideals of another diverse nation. It is this pluralism, and the liberalism that informs it, that my young friend Sunil Khilnani, now teaching at Johns Hopkins University, celebrated as the "Idea of India". The "Idea of India" is no different from the "Idea of America". Both capture in their essence the dominant "Idea of Our Era, Of Our Epoch". The idea of Unity In Diversity.

It is this idea that must define the way we approach the twin challenges of our times, namely, globalisation and terrorism. Both India and America are trying to deal with these global challenges in their own way. Our approach is based on our unswerving commitment to democracy and to pluralism. The economic processes of globalisation must respect the diversities that characterize our societies. The political response to terrorism also be based on our long cherished values of democracy and pluralism.

Speaking to another gathering of Indian Americans earlier this week here in New York, I had said that I empathise very much with the psyche of the immigrant because I was myself a migrant when my family moved from our ancestral village in what is now Pakistan. As migrants in search of a home and a living my family and families like mine had to work that much harder and have faith in the future, for the past was bleak and our present was trying. This was true of many migrant communities in the United States also.

However, you, Ladies and Gentlemen, have succeeded here thanks to the foundation in education and skills your home country gave you, and the opportunities for further development your host country has given you. It is, for this reason, that I have always been impressed by the optimism that characterizes the psyche of the Indian American. You have echoed the "Can Do" spirit of the American people. It is also for this reason that you continue to look back at your home country, at India, with love, affection and longing; albeit with an understandable degree of impatience!

It is that "can do" spirit that takes so many Indian American kids to the top in "spelling bee" tests and Maths Olympiads. It's the same spirit that took Kalpana Chawla into space, and that recently helped the Fijian Indian Vijay Singh dethrone Tiger Woods here in Boston! A pantheon of global Indians is in the making in areas ranging from art and cinema to computer science and biotechnology and one feels so reassured to know that so many of them have flowered here on the American soil. It is a tribute to this country, to these Indian families and to the spirit of India that lives in us all, wherever it is that we make our home and hearth.

Emigrants have come to the shores of American for over half a millennia. Some have come in search of adventure, some in search of treasure, some escaped persecution and some others escaped hardship and deprivation. The Indian American community is again unique in this regard for most of you have come here in search of knowledge, skills, training and professional opportunity. You arrived here not just with hope, but with purpose and this has shaped the nature of your contribution to this great land of enterprise and opportunity.

In American history, no group of immigrants have achieved as much success and respect within the span of one generation, that too the very first, as have Indian Americans. You play a role in US society and economy far beyond what may have been expected given the size of the community and its relatively recent arrival here. Your skills help to make America competitive, your minds are at the cutting edge of research, your services in a wide variety of professions enhance the quality of life in this country. Increasingly, your entrepreneurship has assumed a sharper profile in the American corporate world. I am delighted to learn that Indian Americans are now also active in creative fields ranging from media to cinema. My daughters are always thrilled to watch the movies of Mr. Shyamalan and Ms. Nair.

The Indian American community is but one example of globalization and what it can mean to our relationship. As barriers come down, our human resources could help shape the direction of global development. With right policies and decisions, India could emerge as a knowledge economy superpower. Outsourcing, call centres, Business Processing Outsourcing - these are just signs of what events portend. Each day, India is proving itself a credible partner for American enterprises. Time and distance, handicaps of the past, have become advantage of our times.

You have all earned for yourself an enviable reputation for diligence, for creativity, for enterprise, for commitment to the core values of democracy and pluralism that bind our nations together. This has enabled you to shape favourably the larger American perception of India, among your colleagues at work, your neighbours in your communities and your elected representatives. I must express my sincere gratitude to you all on behalf of the people of India.

I am aware of the issues that engage you in your relations with India. Some of these, like the PIO card, have been addressed already and some, like duel citizenship, are being examined. Our government took the initiative to create a new Ministry for Overseas Indian Affairs to enable us to pay closer attention to the issues that bother you. As is always the case the creation of an entire new ministry has taken some time but I am sure once the ministry gets moving, it will get going.

I am aware that in reaching out to Indian Americans and Overseas Indians our governments in the past have more often than not focused too narrowly on inward investment into India. There is no doubt that this is an important way in which you can contribute to India's development. However, I would like to widen the scope of our appeal to you. I am aware that many of you are professionals and not businessmen and entrepreneurs and inward investment is not the only way in which one can contribute to a nation's progress. I would like to invite you to contribute to a nation's progress. I would like to invite you to contribute more directly to the quality of teaching and research, of infrastructure and our services sector.

I invite ideas on how you can directly contribute to making Indian education, health care, financial services, tourism and other services and sector world class. We are not talking here of just dollars, but of ideas, of individual initiative, of community action. On my part let me assure you that our government will approach this with an open mind and be receptive to any creative thinking. The Ministry of Overseas Indians will be the nodal point for all such interaction.

It is only chance that has made New York my first port of call as Prime Minister on my first visit to the United States. New York epitomized "Unity in Diversity" in its response to the tragedy of September 11th, I pay my homage to the victims of mindless terror. We in India shared not just the pain of many Indians who were killed but of the American people and the people of the world who were touched one way or another by that tragedy. India and the United States are on the same side of history in this battle against terrorism. It is in the nature of our democracies that we expose ourselves to such threats. But when faced, we are determined not to let the threat weaken our resolve to remain open, free and democratic societies. We will take every measure that is necessary and lawful to wipe out terrorism, but we will remain equally committed to the fundamental principles of democracy. That, ultimately, is what defines the personality of both our nations.

I thank you again for this opportunity to speak to you. Jai Hind!"