Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi says people of Indian origin are present in several countries and they have to be engaged effectively and taken care of when in trouble like the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Modi also said that India's foreign policy should be built on the foundation of our culture, tradition, strength, economy, trade, strategy and security, the Indo Asian News Service reported. Delivering the Nani Palkhivala memorial lecture in Chennai on "India and the World", Modi stressed that the foreign policy should be drawn up with inputs from states and wondered why not give each Indian state one foreign country to develop better relationship with.

He said India's freedom struggle was not just about getting independence from British rule but a global anti-colonial movement and these principles should shape up our foreign policy.