New York, July 03: The Indian American groups
across the United States are sharply divided over invitation
sent to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to attend the
second world Gujarati conference to be held in New Jersey.
While some organisations are working behind the scene
mounting pressure on the US government to grant him visa to
attend the meet, the coalition against genocide, an umbrella
organisation of some 25 bodies, has written a letter to
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking her to deny visa to
the Chief Minister.
The invitation was sent by the Association of Indian
Americans in North America (AIANA), organisers of the meet,
but its President Sunil Nayak had said issuance of visa is a
matter between American authorities and Modi. However, he had
expressed the hope that Modi would be able to attend the
three-day conference beginning from Aug 29 in which some 50,000
Gujaratis from the world over are expected to participate.
Modi was denied visa to the Gujarati conference in
2005 in view of anti-Muslim riots in the state for which some
organisations had blamed him but he did talk to the delegates
and press through a video link.
In its letter to Rice, the coalition against genocide
requested her not to allow Modi to enter the United States
"under any conditions" as, it said, circumstances under which
he was denied visa earlier remain "largely unchanged" and
"minority communities in the state continue face systematic
human rights violations."
"Modi has not only expressed no remorse for the 2002
violence; but he has continued to justify them, as he has a
spate of extra judicial killings by his police. And, the state
continues to persecute civil society groups who have been
trying to speak up for the victims under very difficult
circumstances," said the letter.
The United States should not "unwittingly be the
platform from which these unrepentant and yet ascendant forces
in India exploit the opportunity to rally the support base
among Indian diaspora communities and raise international
legitimacy and standing," it said.
It would be "dangerous" at this juncture of Indian
political process to give Modi that "long denied and therefore
much coveted window."
"As recently as April 2008, Modi enacted the
anti-conversion law in Gujarat that effectively bars religious
conversions, thereby crippling the provisions of religious
freedom in the state," the letter released by the coalition
said.
Not only Modi, it said, was responsible for the death
of over 2,000 Muslims and the displacement of 200,000 more,
but "six years after the Gujarat-state sponsored violence, the
Muslim community in Gujarat is subjected to a devastating
economic and social boycott, institutionalised at every
level."
"Most have received little, if no compensation for the
deaths of loved ones and loss of property; thousands are still
displaced, without homes, work, or access to decent schools
for their children. At the level of the courts too, Muslims in
Gujarat have received little justice, barring a few
exceptions; and the few that have managed to push their cases
forward have met with threats, physical harm and harassment,"
the letter alleged.
"Noting the prejudice extending at every level of the
state apparatus, the supreme court ordered cases related to
the 2002 massacres to be moved out of gujarat," it said.
The organisations which signed on the letter include
alliance for a secular and Democratic South Asia (ASDSA),
Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM), Campaign to
Stop Funding Hate (CSFH), Coalition for a Secular and
Democratic India (CSDI), Dalit Freedom Network (DFN), Dharma
Megha inc, Gujarati Muslim Association of America (GMAA),
Hindu Vaishnava Center for Enlightenment, India Foundation
Inc, Indian Buddhist Association, Indian Muslim Council-USA
(IMC-USA), Indian Muslim Educational Foundation of North
America (IMEFNA), and Sikh American Heritage Organisation
(SAHO).
The conference would highlight business, culture,
education and family values and would provide an opportunity
to companies there to showcase their products and plans for
possible business tie-ups.
Bureau Report