HOUSTON: When he made his now infamous comment about the recently elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi being a 'chai wala', Congress spokesperson Mani Shankar Aiyar may not have had any inkling that the comment would give an impetus to Indian Americans to launch a 'chai pe charcha' movement to help Modi win the Prime Ministership.
While, several Indian Americans in major cities across the United States campaigned for Modi's election, the most organized movement was in Houston, Texas, where, since January this year, a group of about 700 worked round the clock to motivate voters in India. The volunteer group intensified their efforts in the two months preceding the voting.
"The preparations were almost like that for an Indian wedding," said Ramesh Bhutada, a Houston businessman and philanthropist, who was one of the prime movers of the campaign. "We had volunteers calling up their relatives, friends and friend of friends in India."
Initially, the focus of the phone calls was to get people to participate in the voting process. Voters were told that they finally had the power to change the destiny of the country.
"Some of the voters-especially the middle aged and elderly-appeared very cynical,"Bhutada said,"They appeared convinced that nothing would ever change."
Later in the phone campaign, the volunteers asked the voters to look at Modi's candidature citing his economic development track record in Gujarat.
In addition, several hundred Indian Americans travelled to India to participate physically in the election campaign for Modi and the BJP.
