Coming from a state whose people have done well for themselves in politics everywhere in the world, it’s an ungracious proposal indeed. The list of Gujaratis who are councillors, mayors, legislators, or speakers abroad is long.While there are hardly any foreigners seeking political positions here, the BJP government in Gujarat doesn’t want any of them — even if they are Indian citizens — to head local self-government bodies. This, when there is no law keeping them off the post of Prime Minister or Chief Minister.While the move is only at proposal stage now — the government claims it was taken up on popular demand — Gujaratis, whose spirit of enterprise has taken them to almost every corner of the world, aren’t too happy with it.‘‘It’s a foolish exercise and a waste of government money,’’ says Vishwa Gujarati Samaj president Krishnakant Vakharia. ‘‘Gujaratis are tolerant and liberal. Such retrograde steps will not improve our standing abroad.’’A Gujarati, he says, is one who understands Gujarati and the state’s culture, regardless of his origin. Prof D.N. Pathak, former head of Gujarat University’s political science department, says the move goes against the Gujarati spirit of ‘‘welcoming outsiders with an open mind’’.Some feel the move runs counter to the current national mood of liberalisation of the economy. Says litterateur Raghuvir Chaudhary: ‘‘This goes against the ideas of the prime minister who had recently proposed dual citizenship for NRIs.’’ But state’s Minister for Law & Parliamentary Affairs Ashok Bhatt, who heads the three-member panel studying the proposal, sees nothing wrong or illogical in it. If the Congress opposes it, he says, it could depose before the committee.In fact, Bhatt says he hopes to make Gujarat a trend-setter with the proposal.‘‘We are not against foreigners becoming members of local bodies, but we feel they should not head them,’’ he says, and speaks of Gujarat having been the first to lower the voting age for local self-government elections to 18 years. He seems to forget the true trend-setting done by Gujaratis for centuries: going abroad and becoming business and community leaders. Gujaratis live in no less than 128 countries across the globe and far outnumber other NRIs in the US and the UK.
