Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s announcement about dual citizenship for people of Indian origin in some countries made in an emotional speech, which was laced with touching references to the ordeals of hardship and suffering undergone by the ancestors of 20 million Indian NRIs, and his concluding remarks: "O my beloved, return home whenever you feel like doing so, the doors of my heart are always open to you," could not calm down many of the Pravasis ( those who do not reside in India) attending the first-ever three-day convention of Indians livingabroad held from January 9 to 11 at the Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.

But the underlying idea of the convention was not to reassure the long-forgotten sons and daughters of indentured labourers who had migrated to seek their fortunes abroad that the Indian government today is concerned about their welfare. The whole exercise which cost the State
Exchequer heavily was intended to impress upon the better-off Indians living abroad to think of India and see what they can do to pull it out of the
morass of poverty and want if not for any other reason than a sense of
gratitude to their motherland. Simply stated, the message of the
convention conveyed to participants was to start investing in India so that thecountry can profit and try to catch up with the developed nations.

However, to make the convention attractive and dazzling, no stone was left unturned by the organisers—the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Union Ministry for External Affairs. Two well-known artists, sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar and Master shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan, performed jugalbandi to mark
the opening of the convention. The resonance of musical notes created by
the two illustrious artistes would continue to haunt all those who were
privileged to be seated in the jampacked auditorium where the convention was held. So enthralled was the audience that the artistes were given a standing ovation at the end of their programme. That many of the Pravasis remained shut out of this show was due to the fact that FICCI had issued more invitations than the capacity of the auditorium where the convention was held. Even some of the media persons were deprived of the pleasure of fully seeing the inaugural show.