Nitish (D-Patna)

Each time dual citizenship is seriously debated in this country, one tricky point comes up. What would be the voting rights of these holders of diverse passports? Take it a little farther, and the question becomes, what political rights does one have to have to be Indian? Positions have been taken, but Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has stirred this soup most unexpectedly this week. He said he is enthused by the prospect of a woman getting the top job in the United States. And that he is willing to commit more substantially to this endorsement. He will, if requested by Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, go to the US to campaign for her amongst Indians settled there.

Purists driven by territoriality may have a point of view, but Kumar’s idea is so staggering that you have to wonder, why has it not been proposed ever before. Why has the Indian politician, so keenly focused on vote banks, till now not woken up to his immense leverage overseas in lands where the pravasis reside? This could be what Barack Obama feared when his campaign christened Clinton a senator from Punjab. It was a low one, and it now transpires they could have got the state all wrong. It is a man from Bihar who is shedding the timidity of his politician brethren in meddling in the ‘internal affairs’ of another country.

In actual fact, this may be the way of things now. Easy, cheap travel and communication technology now keep overseas Indians more connected to their ancestral land. They harbour, by every indication, no clash of loyalties — between their Indianness and their permanent residence elsewhere. In this they are like most other diaspora communities. It is the political class, worldwide, that has been diffident in joining the dots while harnessing campaigners. It is, though, just a matter of time. When the voter becomes truly globalised, can those who’d be elected stay out of step for long. But we wonder, Mr Chief Minister, what if Obama wins.