So what are Gujarat's patriotic expatriates thinking about during this year's elections? The big question for those bringing capital back to Gujarat is whether or not it's worth investing in a volatile and unstable economy. While constant tension with Pakistan does not help the scenario, neither does the fact that this is the third election in three years.

``If the government is constantly coming and going, then how do I know that economic policies governing my investments won't do the same?'' says Mahipal, a New York-based NRI from Gujarat. The Indian government's large-scale interference in the private sector, along with rampant corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency, makes many NRI's hesitant to return and invest.

Since neither the BJP nor the Congress has done much to alleviate this situation, it's difficult to say which party NRI's would vote for if given the franchise. ``I wouldn't be interested in going to vote. Since there is so much rampant corruption, it wouldn't matter which way I vote. The only way anything happens is if you grease some palms,'' says Mahipal.

``Safety for my children is also a big concern,'' says Mehul, a resident of Canada. Strangely enough, rising crime in the cities has hardly been mentioned by candidates. Ravi, a native of Vadodara who's studying in the US, says, ``The robberies in my neighbourhood have gotten so bad that my mother makes me stay in the house with her after ten-o-clock. It's not like that in the States. Crime is a basic problem, but none of the politicians even mention it. Maybe that's because most of them are criminals themselves.''

Many NRI's return and find they are intentionally excluded from the political process. ``The government wants us to return and invest, but then we are treated like second class citizens,'' says Dr. Raman Patel, a British citizen and member of the Red Cross Society who has been practicing medicine and doing social work in India for twenty-five years. ``My son wanted to study medicine here, but they wouldn't allow him. So he went to the United States,'' says Patel. ``They even make us take an AIDS test, while they don't do the same for Indian citizens who return from abroad though it is widely known that 99% of the AIDS cases are among Indian passport holders, he says.

Dr. Patel, like most NRI's, eventually comes back to the core issue: corruption. ``These officials require permits for everything, and at every step there is corruption. They send us from office to office, and if they know we are NRI's they ask for more money. Many friends of mine have left in frustration'', he says. When asked whether he would vote if given the franchise, Patel says, ``It won't matter. Either way things won't change.''

Not all NRI's are quite so apathetic. Many Indians abroad keep abreast of the issues and one can find a lively debate running on any of several NRI chat sites. According to a poll conducted by NRI Online, the most pressing issue for NRI's are defence and national security, while reducing corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency are next in line. Primary education, health care and poverty alleviation were important to only a small number of respondents. In the same poll 58% of respondents thought the BJP would get a majority in the upcoming elections, while only 17% thought the Congress would.