No visa for modi..!
Robert Clements
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 - Sadly most of the big decisions in our country are based on political constraints. We do not hang a particular criminal because we feel there may be repercussions from a certain state. We do not arrest a wrong doer feeling we may lose voters.
Slums are not demolished to appease a local corporator or MLA who wants his voters staying put even if they live on illegal ground. When will we be able to stand by the truth, instead of standing for what is politically right? I would take a page from the USA where even though they need business from Gujarat, still will not twist the truth when it comes to the chief minister of that state.
The United States the other day described Gujarat as an “important place for American investment” but added that there has been no review on the issuance of visa for chief minister Narendra Modi. “No, there are no new developments on that. But, Gujarat remains a very important place for American investment. It’s shown itself to be a very welcoming environment for American business to flourish. And we’ll continue to promote investment, encourage investment into that state,” agency reports quoting Robert Blake, the Obama administration’s pointman for South Asia said. Modi was denied a visa to travel to the US in 2005 for his alleged complicity in Gujarat’s violence in 2002. He had applied for a visa to attend the Asian American Hotel Owners Association annual convention where he was to deliver the keynote address.
It may be recalled that the refusal of visa to Modi came two days after the visit of the then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to New Delhi. Incidentally, Blake, who was then the deputy chief of mission at the American embassy in Delhi, was summoned by South Block to convey India’s protest against Washington’s decision.”
‘The action on the part of the US embassy, was uncalled for and displayed a lack of courtesy and sensitivity towards a constitutionally elected chief minister of a state of India,” a statement from the Gujarat government had said. The US embassy had said Modi’s tourist and business visa issued in 1998, had been revoked and there was no chance he would be issued a diplomatic visa either. Today the US is reeling under a recession the likes of which they have never faced before, but that does not allow them to deviate from calling a spade a spade when it comes to Modi.
I am sure there is a lesson for us in our wishy-washy way of doing things as we swing like a pendulum from one side to another, depending on which side our political butter is spread for us. As a country we need to stand by the truth, whether it hurts us or not, then and only then will we be respected by the rest of the world..!
—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com
Slums are not demolished to appease a local corporator or MLA who wants his voters staying put even if they live on illegal ground. When will we be able to stand by the truth, instead of standing for what is politically right? I would take a page from the USA where even though they need business from Gujarat, still will not twist the truth when it comes to the chief minister of that state.
The United States the other day described Gujarat as an “important place for American investment” but added that there has been no review on the issuance of visa for chief minister Narendra Modi. “No, there are no new developments on that. But, Gujarat remains a very important place for American investment. It’s shown itself to be a very welcoming environment for American business to flourish. And we’ll continue to promote investment, encourage investment into that state,” agency reports quoting Robert Blake, the Obama administration’s pointman for South Asia said. Modi was denied a visa to travel to the US in 2005 for his alleged complicity in Gujarat’s violence in 2002. He had applied for a visa to attend the Asian American Hotel Owners Association annual convention where he was to deliver the keynote address.
It may be recalled that the refusal of visa to Modi came two days after the visit of the then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to New Delhi. Incidentally, Blake, who was then the deputy chief of mission at the American embassy in Delhi, was summoned by South Block to convey India’s protest against Washington’s decision.”
‘The action on the part of the US embassy, was uncalled for and displayed a lack of courtesy and sensitivity towards a constitutionally elected chief minister of a state of India,” a statement from the Gujarat government had said. The US embassy had said Modi’s tourist and business visa issued in 1998, had been revoked and there was no chance he would be issued a diplomatic visa either. Today the US is reeling under a recession the likes of which they have never faced before, but that does not allow them to deviate from calling a spade a spade when it comes to Modi.
I am sure there is a lesson for us in our wishy-washy way of doing things as we swing like a pendulum from one side to another, depending on which side our political butter is spread for us. As a country we need to stand by the truth, whether it hurts us or not, then and only then will we be respected by the rest of the world..!
—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com
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