Diaspora diplomacy is Modi’s unique contribution: Minister S. Jaishankar at book talk in NYC

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India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, met with a large group of Indian-Americans on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York, Sept. 22, 2022. In his speech about the book, Jaishankar dwelt on the memorable 2014 massive Madison Square Garden event that became the hallmark of public diplomacy.

The meeting which had limited seating saw a full capacity crowd comprised of leaders and others in the Indian and Indian-American community, including Parikh Worldwide Media Chairman Dr. Sudhir Parikh. The event was hosted by the Indo-American Arts Council and was billed as a ‘book talk’ entitled “MODI@20: DREAMS MEET DELIVERY.”

“Pleased to participate in a book discussion on Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery in New York. Thank Indo American Arts Council for organizing the interaction,” Minister Jaishankar tweeted, adding, “Prime Minister @narendramodi’s appeal knows no borders. It remains especially strong in this city that hosted the Madison Square Garden event in 2014.”

“It was an honor to meet dynamic leader Dr. S. Jaishankar Minister of External Affairs.at MODI@20:DREAMS MEET DELIVERY book talk and presenting one of my publications News India Times,” Dr. Parikh tweeted.

Jaishankar spoke about how the book on Modi was conceived and the 20 chapters written by different people incorporated in it with one chapter by him. Only 3 of the 20 essays are by government officials and the rest by private persons from different fields such as sports, business technology.

The book was written as PM Modi’s approached 20 consecutive years in government as an elected leader, first as Chief Minister of Gujarat and then as Prime Minister. Jaishankar noted this was a rare occurrence in the political world where turnover was high.

The Minister also spoke about the diaspora policy that Modi brought into being based on which the Madison Square Garden’s spectacular event took place in Sept. 2014.

Prime Minister Modi felt, “They (the diaspora) needed to discover their voice and we needed to consolidate their role as a bridge,” Jaishankar recalled. The thought behind the MSG event was that it “must be organized in a manner that its sound would reverberate not just in U.S. and India, but across the world … and it did,” Jaishankar said.

Since then, this unique brand of ‘popular diplomacy’ is envied around the world, he noted. Similar events were held in Australia, at Webley Stadium in London, U.K., etc., and it continues.

Jaishankar then read out passages from a few of the authors in the book.