BJP MP Anurag Thakur, speaking from Kanpur on 16 June 2026, said that twelve years of the Modi government have elevated India's standing on the global stage to a point where overseas Indians now proudly declare their identity abroad.

Posting in Hindi on X, Thakur wrote: 'Aaj pravasi videshon mein garv se kehte hain ki hum Bharatiya hain' — 'Today, members of the diaspora say with pride in foreign lands that we are Indians.' He attributed this shift directly to India's rising international credibility under the Modi government's twelve-year tenure.

Context

The remark comes as the BJP government marks over a decade in power, a period during which diaspora engagement has been woven into the fabric of India's foreign policy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the Indian community at Madison Square Garden, New York, in September 2014 set the tone early, framing overseas Indians as partners in national progress rather than peripheral communities.

Thakur's post, tagged from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, reflects a line of messaging the ruling party has consistently reinforced — that foreign policy successes translate into tangible pride for non-resident Indians worldwide.

Policy Backdrop

Since 2014, the government has scaled up the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention, the flagship forum connecting the Indian government with its global diaspora. The convention has drawn tens of thousands of overseas Indians across successive editions and has been used to announce consular reforms, investment linkages, and cultural initiatives.

The Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) scheme was expanded during this period, and the Know India Programme was broadened to bring diaspora youth into closer contact with the country. These institutional moves underpin the government's argument that diaspora pride is not incidental but the product of deliberate policy architecture.

Stakeholders and Impact

India's diaspora — estimated at over 3.2 crore people worldwide — is both the largest in the world and a significant source of remittances, which have consistently ranked among the highest globally. Beyond economics, the government has positioned overseas Indians as soft-power assets capable of shaping perceptions of India in host countries.

For the BJP, diaspora sentiment also carries domestic political resonance, signalling to voters at home that India commands respect abroad. Thakur's statement from Kanpur suggests the party is actively carrying this foreign-policy narrative into constituency-level outreach.

What's Next

Attention will turn to the next Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention and any diaspora-focused announcements expected during upcoming bilateral summits or multilateral engagements. If the government continues its current trajectory, further institutional expansions — in consular services, OCI benefits, or diaspora investment channels — are likely to be framed within this same arc of growing global credibility. The broader test will be whether the pride Thakur describes translates into measurable policy outcomes for overseas Indians in the years ahead.