Anupam- The Dreamer

MAGA=Make America Great Again; MIGA= Make India Great Again

“All right Mohan. Go, light your bulb!”

These words from his boss opened new vistas for the brilliant Mohan Bhargav and encouraged him to ditch MAGA (Make America Great Again) dream to fulfil yet another dream of MIGA (Make India Great Again). If you haven’t identified Mohan yet, then you have missed a legendary classic movie called Swades, released in 2004 well ahead of its times, or if you have already seen it then there is all the more need to revise it now.

The role of Mohan was played by none other than the King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, and he absolutely nailed it in the character of Mohan. Mohan was a simple, hardworking and talented man who was facing many personal dilemmas, whether to pursue his individual dream of becoming a scientist at NASA or to go back to his own country, between his own people, and try to make their lives a little better. Faced with a very tough choice and after witnessing the massive difference he could make by installing a little power plant to bring electricity in the remote village, finally Mohan decides to come back to India when he felt that his country needs him more than NASA (or USA). When he informed his firangi boss that he has decided this course of action, his boss says that “you know that you could have gone places!”. Mohan gives a beautiful reply that “I am going places!” The boss is left with no other option than to wish him luck. Boss parts off by saying “All right Mohan. Go, light your bulb!” And indeed Mohan did light a bulb, not just in one, but in hundreds of homes in his native Indian village.

You know why I have shared this story of Mohan? Because the campaign, debates and discussions around MAGA are gaining steam in the USA, amidst the triumphant victory of the “greatest of all time” Donald Trump and the surrounding euphoria in his supporters. The Trump supporters have turned this MAGA rhetoric against the immigrants, instead of focussing on how to actually make America great again by introspecting inwards. This rhetoric has graduated through various phases. Initially, the rhetoric was limited to deporting illegal immigrants from across the border in Mexico and Muslim-majority nations. Then, it was directed towards immigrant workers working legally in the USA on different work visas like H1B, L1 etc. Then, some of the hardliners have turned even towards the Indian-American lawmakers and businessmen, who despite being the citizens of the USA are not considered as native “white” Americans. Now, in the final phase this campaign has turned focus towards the millions of students who go to study in the US universities for higher education (mostly STEM courses) on F1 visa, and then seek shelter under the OPT scheme to stay longer in the US and work there.

OPT stands for Optional Practical Training, a programme started by the US government long back in 1947 so as to enable the students to undergo practical training in the US companies after their study is completed. Initially OPT was for 1 year, which was extended by successive governments, finally extended  upto 3 years by Obama administration. So, effectively, a foreign student can work in the US for 3 years after college, without a proper work visa like H1B. The MAGA supporters consider OPT to be backdoor entry for F1 visa students to get H1B, as it buys them time to apply for H1B visa, then applying for a green card or eventually become US citizens in the future.  

The opinions are divided in the US society whether to invite foreign students in their country or not. The people who support and encourage the arrival of bright students to the US colleges argue that these students not only pay huge fees to the US colleges (which is a good source of income for the US), but also these students are among the brightest of talent from across the world who eventually benefit the US by working in their research institutions and industries. Many of these students work in critical research, technology and defence industries, which is crucial for the progress of America. Also, many become entrepreneurs who provide employment on large scale to the Native American population. On the other hand, the section of society who doesn’t want foreign students on their land argue that these students snatch away the jobs from the Native Americans. Also, they are considered to be a threat to the national security of America. On the whole, there are good arguments on both the sides and let the American society decide what is best for them.

My point of interest is not whether the US should invite more students in its territory or not. My interest is also not whether there should be relaxations in the granting of visas by the US to Indian students or professionals. My interest is that when there is so much uncertainty about the future in the US, then we must focus on providing greater opportunities to our own brilliant minds in India so that they don’t need to go to the US to “Make America Great Again”. Because what is the point of making America great again? There is no fun in making a country great, when they are already great! Let us leave this task on the supreme leader Trump, who has got some out-of-the-box ideas for himself and his people.

Instead, now it’s the time for MIGA, which stands for “Make India Great Again”. We were already great in the past. Infact, we were the largest economy in the world, with enormous contributions spanning in the field of science and technology, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, city planning and what not. We could not maintain that greatness during the past few centuries due to travails of colonization. But now, in the 21^st century, we are ready to reclaim our rightful place at the global stage. We have all the essential ingredients to MIGA i.e. demographic dividend, brilliant innovators and entrepreneurs, huge market for our products and services, talented people in every field etc. etc. And if the talent which was hitherto forced for “brain drain” from India, is given rightful environment in India itself, then it will be a huge “brain gain” (or “reverse brain drain”) for our nation. As Mela Ram remarked to Mohan in Swades “Our lamp is giving light to neighbour’s house” to emphasize the need of retaining talent, likewise there are thousands of Mohans who have huge potential to turn their “American dream” into an “Indian dream”.

Some Mohans are self-motivated, who come and give back to their motherland multiple times of what they have taken from her. Some need nudging to come back by providing the right environment, so that they can maximize their own potential and at the same time, can give back better to the society, a society which would value their contribution to MIGA. And not the society which constantly threatens them to deport back to their motherland, even after these Mohans have given back so much to MAGA.

This opportunity created by circumstances in the US should be considered as a blessing in disguise to “Make India Great Again”! Now, it is indeed the time to light billions of “bulbs” in India!