Denial of visa to Gujarat's Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, by US State Department, apparently his controversial role in 2002 Gujarat riots, is at best a half measure. The pogrom was hailed by the fascist party and its various affiliates as an experiment against Muslims, to be repeated all over India, as and when they get empowered. Against such background, Human Rights organisation, whether state or independent, should move international authorities to move for accountability for Gujarat's 2002 communal riots against Muslims, which may get repeated if this man ever get to rule India as he is now being considered by his BJP/RSS organisations for the post of Prime Minister of India.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
http://www.rediff.com/news/
Aziz Haniffa in Washington DC
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
http://www.rediff.com/news/
Anti-Modi forces in US unite as Rajnath lobbies for visa
July 24, 2013 09:41 IST
The
letter, to maintain the current policy of denying Narendra Modi a visa
to the United States, was released just as the BJP president arrived in
Washington DC for a round of meetings with US lawmakers. Aziz Haniffa
reports
A well coordinated pre-emptive
strike by the anti-Narendra Modi forces in the United States and India
has the Bharatiya Janata Party and its American affiliate -- the
Overseas Friends of the BJP, livid and crying foul.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh was
at Capitol Hill lobbying influential US lawmakers to prevail upon the
Obama administration to lift the US visa ban for the Gujarat chief
minister.
The Coalition Against Genocide, a broad alliance, which says it is
‘dedicated to justice and accountability for the Gujarat pogrom of
2002,’ on Tuesday
hailed the letters signed by 65 members from both houses of India’s
Parliament, calling on President Obama to maintain the ban. The letter
was released by one of the CAG’s
affiliate, the Indian American Muslim Council.
In
the letters to Obama, Indian parliamentarians from 15 parties from both
the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha said, ‘We wish to respectfully urge you
to maintain the current policy of denying Mr Modi a visa to the United
States.’
In the missive, the MPs noted, ‘Given the legal
cases against the culprits, including many senior officials in Mr Modi’s
administration are still pending in the court of law, any revoking of
the ban at this juncture would be seen as a dismissal of the issues
concerning Mr Modi’s role in the horrific massacres of 2002.’
‘It would legitimise Mr Modi’s human rights
violations and seriously impact the nature of US-India
relations by sending a message that the United States values economic
interests over and above the universal values of human rights and
justice,’ it said.
The letter was released by the IAMC just as Singh, after three days in
New York, arrived in Washington, DC and started a round of meetings with
US lawmakers, including senior members and founders of the
Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.
The BJP president Singh met the likes of House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce, California Republican.
In New York, Singh had told reporters that when he goes
to DC, he would urge members of the US Congress to call on the US
administration to lift the visa ban on Modi who has been
virtually anointed by the BJP as its prime ministerial candidate.
The
letters, written in November and December 2012, and faxed to Obama,
were again faxed to the White House to coincide with Singh’s visit to DC
and released to the media simultaneously.
In 2005, in the wake of a campaign spearheaded by
the CAG, which co-opted the US Commission on International Religious
Freedom, Modi’s US visa was revoked. Modi’s entry to the US was banned
by the State Department under the provisions of the International
Religious Freedom Act, which makes any foreign government official who
‘was responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, particularly
severe violations of religious freedom’ ineligible for a visa.
Raja Swamy, spokesman for the CAG, said, “The fact
that over 60 MPs from 15 political parties across 15 states chose to
write a joint letter to President Obama about Narendra Modi's US visa,
is a stark reminder that Modi and the divisive ideology he represents
continue to be anathema to a cross section of Indians.”
“After having long denied any desire on the part of
Mr Modi to acquire a US visa, Mr Rajnath Singh's visit to the US, to
lobby lawmakers here for Modi's visa reeks of hypocrisy,’ he added.
The letter by the MPs, referred to the conviction
of Maya Kodnani, a sitting BJP MLA and then minister in Modi’s cabinet,
as ‘a damning indictment of the Modi administration, and proof that the
pogrom was planned and executed at the highest
levels of the state government.’
It argued
that the visa ban on Modi was ‘consistent with US law and the shared
values of the United States and India,’ and called on Obama to ‘stand in
solidarity with the survivors, human rights activists and all those who
value justice and freedom of religion.’
Ahsan Khan, President of IAMC, which released the letters to the media, told rediff.com, “The joint letters of 65 MPs from both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha was an independent effort undertaken by the MPs themselves.”
He said, “Mohammed Adeeb, Rajya Sabha MP has already
gone
on record to say that he initiated this effort. IAMC, which is a member
of the Coalition Against Genocide, was able to get copies of these
letters through its sources in India, and saw it fit to release them to
the media. We did not alert the MPs to the release of the letter,” he
said.
Khan argued, “When Mr Rajnath Singh, president of a
major political party saw it fit to come to US begging for a visa for
Modi, criticism of the MPs for writing to President Obama, is a case of
the pot calling the kettle black.”
The Times Now television news channel and the New York Times reported
from New Delhi, had run a primetime debate titled, ‘Is it appropriate
of Indian politicians to drag their fight
with Modi to Washington’s court?’ while Jay Narayan Vyas, a senior
colleague of Modi in the Gujarat government, had pilloried this letter
by Indian parliamentarians akin to ‘washing dirty linen outside the
country.’
But Khan asserted, “As for countering Mr Rajnath
Singh's efforts, we do not believe we need to do that. The fact that Mr
Modi has an uncanny ability to unite against himself, elected officials
across the ideological spectrum in both India and the US, speaks volumes
about his chances of ever being granted a visa to the US.”
Dr Shaik Ubaid, president of Indian Muslim Advocacy
Network, another affiliate of CAG, also rejected the BJP and Overseas
Friends of BJP's criticism of the letter as hypocritical and without
merit.
Ubaid argued, ‘Human rights are universal. The
victims of Gujarat pogrom have not received justice even after a decade
while the person responsible might become the candidate for PM. Where is
the accountability and justice in that? India took a moral stand in
‘internal affairs' of other countries, such as against apartheid in
South Africa and even after riots against Indians in Fiji, so why cannot
President Obama be involved. After all Mr Rajnath brought the issue to
the US, coming with a begging bowl for visa and a laundry bag with
Modi's dirty linen.’
He also brushed off the BJP’s contention that one MP
has backtracked, and asserted, ‘It is a desperate diversionary tactic
by the Modi camp. The issue is not if one or two MPs are backing off,
not being able to stand the heat generated by sustained
BJP attacks. Politicians ‘flip flop’ even in the US, I was expecting
more to come under pressure.’
Ubaid said, ‘The
issue is Modi. The whole episode shows Mr Modi is a stigma and liability
for India, Gujarat, Hinduism and even for BJP.’
He said, ‘Instead of attacking Congress Party the BJP has to spend
each day justifying its annotation of a politician with blood stained
hands.’
Ubaid said, ‘Indians living in the US are endangering the future
political prospects of Indian community here and for US investment in
Gujarat by closely associating themselves with an extremist politician.’
Singh, who is scheduled to meet with a few
selected members of the Indian media in Washington at the National Press Club on Wednesday
to apprise them of his meetings in Washington, was expected to respond
to this latest anti-Modi campaign timed to coincide with his DC visit.
