‘I’m proud to be from the RSS, it is a qualification’

Agnihotri shrugs that everybody’s happy with his appointment ‘‘except a few people in the media’’, and that his current position has more to do with a spirit of ‘‘sacrifice’’ rather than ambition. He spoke to Anita Saluja.

Protests followed your appointment as Ambassador At Large. The question being raised was, did we really need two ambassadors?

I was appointed because Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was keen to open a dialogue with NRIs (Non-resident Indians) and PIOs (Persons of Indian Origin) around the world. When I was approached to take up the new assignment, I was a full-time chancellor at the Southern University’s Law Centre, which is equivalent to any chancellor in Louisiana.

The Prime Minister had seen me in action for a long time, right from when I was District Sessions Judge, Rent Controller and Additional District Sessions Judge in New Delhi and later, Dean in Louisiana in the US. It was then that I was approached by the Government and the Prime Minister. Though I was sounded out for my new job in January 2001, my appointment order took eight months.

The controversy also arose because of your RSS background.

I am proud of my RSS background. Every person has a background. Some are dacoits, some are thieves. My wife Krishna Maudgil has a Congress background.

Her father Har Bhagwan Maudgil was a Congress MLA in Ludhiana. There are several others in the Government, with an RSS background like Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. It is a qualification, not a disqualification.

And there is no clash between my position and that of Lalit Mansingh, India’s Ambassador to the US. I am an Ambassador for NRIs and the PIOs. So where is the conflict?

But won’t there be similar demands from NRIs in other countries for a parallel envoy?

I happened to be a US resident when I was offered the job. I could have been a resident of Canada or any other country.

They wanted a person from the US. Both me and my wife were working there: I was Chancellor in the American University, she was an Economics professor.

We were both earning half-a-million dollars annually. I had a coveted position which I gave up for this assignment. We started this work as a labour of love for India, it’s a sacrifice.

What is the nature of your job?

It is the Prime Minister who had explained my position at a public forum, saying that I would address the concerns of NRIs and PIOs. I interact with NRIs the world over, get invited to travel to various places.

My visits are organised by the missions. I do not oversee their work but only interact with them on issues concerning NRIs and PIOs. If any NRI writes to me about a visa or passport problem or any complaint of misdemeanour, I take up the matter for him. I then refer the problem to the missions.

The government wanted a person who would be dedicated to NRIs. It’s a new position and by now, every one has adjusted to my appointment except a few people in the media. I am not encroaching on anybody’s jurisdiction. I have a daily account of my activities and functions.

My mandate is in writing, which includes unity among overseas Indians, trying to make PIOs in different countries into more productive participants of the national life of their adopted country, developing and promoting the concept of a ‘global family of PIOs’.

My latest project is on NRI investment in development of India. I’ve planned internship programmes for young people, where they will pick up a project related to India and work on it under the guidance of my office. Seven hundred people have volunteered to work with me.

What was your role at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas?

The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas event was based on the recommendations of the Indian Diaspora Committee headed by L M Singhvi. They were finalising the report when I was appointed Ambassador

At Large. I was a member of the Organising Committee and Awards Committee. Of the 1,200 delegates, 400 were from the United States.

Why then weren’t you allowed a seat on the dais?

I have gone beyond the stage when people crave to have a place at the dais. It is a very small thing for me. I had hundreds of other good things to do. In any case, I didn’t have a role to play on the stage on the opening day.

Could we say that the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was a success?

Yes, it was a great success. It was a dream come true. People from 60 countries came together and interacted with the country’s seniormost leaders. The declaration of dual citizenship was welcomed by all.

But dual citizenship will be limited to seven countries.

The countries that have been given dual citizenship have a similar arrangement with other countries too. This may dilute their position in the country they reside. For example, people in Mauritius, Fiji and Guyana are almost like the natives there.

Getting dual citizenship may weaken their position in the local population. Besides, we don’t have any request so far about the other countries who want dual citizenship.

Hasn’t the RSS wound up the Overseas Friends of BJP?

No, I am not aware of it. Even I heard that they want to do so.

What about the controversy during the Prime Minister’s US visit, when he lost his cool after seeing OFBJP leaders scrap with each other?

I had no role to play. The fight was due to internal dissensions within the OFBJP. Some of them were unhappy over the appointment of Subramaniam Vemuri (a Chicago-based engineer) as the organisation’s president. Some of them even thought that he was my choice.

But weren’t you responsible?

No, not at all. It is not my responsibility. As an Ambassador, I don’t get involved in any internal organisation matter. Whether it is the Federation of Indian Association, Jaati Samaaj, Association of Physicians in India or OFBJP, I don’t get involved in any organisation.

But you do belong to the BJP and the RSS.

I have nothing to do with BJP and RSS at this point. I don’t attend their programmes or functions, just as I don’t attend Congress programmes.