There are no official plans in place for Indian expatriates affected by the changes in labor laws in the country, said Fareed Mahfooz Kidwai, a minister in the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

The minister explained that the expats can take advantage of existing schemes in place for non-resident Indians (NRIs).

Kidwai was speaking at a reception held in his honor. Indian Consul General Faiz Ahmed Kidwai was also present at the function.

The minister shared some of his experiences and information pertaining to politics in the state with the community members. He came down heavily on party’s betenoire, Mayawati, whom Kidwai had worked with before joining SP.

During the meeting, he spoke of his party’s status and the activities and hopes in the upcoming elections.

Sharing his experience with the Bahujan Samaj Party under Mayawati, the minister said: “She was in the habit of suppressing male members, and that is what prompted me to quit and join the SP under the leadership of Mulayam Singh Yadav, a secular politician.”

Under Yadav’s government, Indian Muslims feel secure, he said. A number of projects are being implemented for the development of the Uttar Pradesh. We are planning to win the parliamentary election by acquiring 70 seats, and will thus be able to make our leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, the new prime minister,” he said.

Faiz Kidwai told Arab News that the Indian Consulate in Jeddah has not received many applications for residency transfers, saying most of the applications were for repatriation.

Commenting on overseas-voting, the diplomat said, it is still not a possibility, since “there is a huge number of NRIs abroad, and creating ballot boxes will be a task of enormous measure. In the Western Region alone, there are almost 1 million Indian expatriates,” said Kidwai.

He said that both the Indian consulate and the embassy have opened a number of outlets for workers to register and information regarding registration is available on the missions’ websites.