The appointment also coincides with the results of a major census which enumerates the strength, and the clout of the NRI in the US. Though the census does not spell it out, there is little doubt that the middle class and upper middle class NRI with surplus income, professional standing and some political ambition is a Hindu doctor, engineer or businessman with an emotional commitment to "Indian values" which he sees being protected by the sangh parivar and the Bharatiya Janata party.

Muslims and Christians of Indian origin, even Dalits, constitute a minuscule percentage of this upwardly mobile population. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that only one segment of the NRIs enjoys the supporting benefits of financial, numerical and political clout.

The NRIs, of course, hosted the expensive dinners on the eve of the US visit of Prime Minister Vajpayee and were enthusiastic supporters of the Staten Island function of the sadhus where Vajpayee famously announced his pride in being an RSS volunteer since childhood.

The NRIs also fully backed the large sadhu participation in the World Peace Summit in New York after which the Hindu participants, among them Ashok Singhal of Babri Masjid fame, hurriedly passed a resolution, falsely claiming that the Universal Declaration of fundamental rights, including the right of Freedom to Religion, did not grant the right to convert.

There is little doubt that the person of Indian origin, once despised by British Airways as much as by immigration officials in New York and Heathrow, is now a phenomenon to reckon with, whatever yardstick of evaluation one adopts. One perspective of the global Indian presence (including those outside the US and UK) is given by Dr. Thomas Abraham, who founded the Federation of Indian Associations of New York, National Federation of Indian American Associations, and currently serves as the President of Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). He is also chairman of the board of trustees of Indian American Kerala Center. Writing in The Week last February, he said the unofficial estimate of the total number of people of Indian origin living outside India was about 18 million people.

"Whether they come from Africa, Asia, the Americas, Australia, the Caribbean or Europe, they are Indians in body and spirit. Almost all of them maintain their Indian cultural traditions and values. They seem to have meaningfully integrated in their countries without losing their ethnic identity". Abraham organised the first GOPIO.

The triggering point for the global Indian community to come together was when an elected Indian-dominated government in Fiji was thrown out by a military dictator in 1987. At the First Global Convention held in New York in 1989, the major issue of concern to everyone was human rights violations, be it in Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad, South Africa, Sri Lanka, U.K. and even in the U.S.A. with its "Dot Buster" issue.

"The last decade also saw PIOs becoming enormously rich, thanks to the computer and Internet revolution. There are a dozen billionaires, hundreds of PIOs with assets over $100 millions and several thousand Indian millionaires". (This was written, of course, before the Dotcom collapsed).

Abraham noted that there was resentment among the NRIs that GOI always look at NRIs/PIOs only from the angle of how much more money can be extracted from them, whether it is PIO card or just the deposits. "NRIs/PIOs would like to look at it more than just the money. NRIs have done a great job in building a good image for India in their respective countries. NRIs have worked behind the scene to create interest among companies to take interest in India. Therefore, NRIs would like to be a partner in the country’s development, whether through state and central government agencies or community groups..."

Economic participation remains a target. But the BJP has been more keenly looking at the political implications of the NRI presence in the US and British economies. The NRIs have been important instruments in strengthening the Indian caucus on Capitol Hill. Large Indian communities have a direct link with many Senators and Congressmen in New York, Washington, Chicago and the Western seaboard of continental America. This clout has strengthened in the eight years of the Democratic rule of Bill Clinton.

This clout came in handy for the BJP government at the height of the anti-Christian violence in India during 1998-99. The NRIs, among them many supporters of the BJP-RSS and the super patriots, were instrumental in blanking out the human rights groups and their efforts to conscientise decision-makers in the US. They were also instrumental in reducing the fallout of the Indian Nuclear bombs.

It is not that every Hindu NRI is a RSS or BJP man. There is a growing awareness of the secular credentials of the Congress and a new Oversees Congress took root during the recent New York visit of Sonia Gandhi. But the fact remains that out of nostalgia, or real and imagined slights in the White man’s territory, Indians find it easy to identify with – and then fund – the sangh parivar.

This phenomenon must be studied by academicians, for the good of both India and the US. More so in the light of the recent US Census Bureau data. The Washington-based India Abroad Center for Political Awareness says the Indian American population in the US has dramatically increased by almost 106 per cent from 1990 to 2000, comprising 1.678 million of the U.S. population, rising by more than twofold from 815,447 in 1990. The Indian American community is now the third largest Asian American group in the US behind Chinese and Filipino Americans.

The IACPA says a key factor that accounts for the rising numbers in the Indian American community is the influx of H-1B visa holders and their families (spouses and children). The number of H-1B visas issued to those from India jumped from 2,697 in 1990 to 15,228 in 1995 to 55,047 in 2000, according to figures from the State Department.

In an ambitious statement, IACPA goes on to say that "the numbers show that we have a population roughly equivalent to the state of Nebraska, which indicates that if all of our community lived in one state, we would have three Indian American members of Congress. Also according to Census figures, Indian Americans represent 6 percent of the US population; this would entail that the Indian American community should have at least 45 state legislators of Indian origin."

At present, there are but two persons of Indian origin currently holding such office out of a total of 7,424 State legislators nation-wide. "The realisation that we need to take an active role in the political process is one we must make as a community soon," said Prem Shunmugavelu, political associate at IACPA. "Political activism needs to grow at the same rate that our population has grown; the hope is that the rise in numbers will serve as a catalyst to enhance political activity in our community and our civic engagement in mainstream society." He said he hopes that this "would lead the community to participate in activities such as voting in greater numbers and electing Indian Americans to office." Shunmugavelu stressed that "the time to act is now."

The many children of the sangh parivar agree. The only fly in the sangh ointment is that the minority groups, the human rights groups and the civil rights groups in the US – which have extreme wariness of anything that smacks of nazism or fascism – have put the Sangh under the microscope. Specially the funds it collects in the US which it routes to the VHP or the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, and thereafter to others in the Parivar.

According to author Partha Banerjee, a former RSS member, The Belly of the Beast —An Insiders Story, said money is also pumped in by other organizations such as Overseas Friends of BJP and the Hindu Students Council (HSC). "Under the guise of cultural education, a whole generation is being indoctrinated to be blind, separatists and bigots". Banerjee goes on to say, "Many Indian immigrants, ignorant of the relationship of the VHP and HSC with BJP and RSS, are being used to further the fascist-like socio-political agenda of the Sangh Parivar".