As the United States and India have drawn closer in recent years, political observers have given at least some of the credit to one group: Indian immigrants settled in the United States.
- Findlay Kember/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
- India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, right, with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi during the first India-Africa Forum Summit.
Today, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Addis Ababa, at the second Africa-India Forum Summit, laying out his vision for the future of India-Africa ties, which have always been couched in the language of solidarity but in recent years have focused mainly on energy trade. Can Indians in Africa, like those in the U.S., play a role in fostering ties between their adoptive nations and India?
That may be a trickier proposition.
Indians have had a far longer history in Africa than in the United States—emigrating there both under duress, as indentured labor with the British, and freely, as did many Gujarati traders. But analysts note that India has in the past been reluctant to reach out to Indian-origin populations in African countries.
"For a very long time the Indian government left the Indian community in Africa to their own devices. [First Prime Minister Jawaharlal] Nehru used to say they should settle in their adoptive homes," said [...]
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