Not even a ‘Modi’cum of logic
“Personally I hate Modi and his politics, but… “
Does that sound familiar?! … Well, of course it does!! That’s the refrain almost everyone has been singing ever since the US government, in a fit of self-righteous grandstanding, decided to refuse a diplomatic visa for Narendra Modi and while at it, also cancelled the visa he was already holding.
Everyone knows that a country has every right to decide who should be allowed in and who should be barred from entering it. I have no issues with the fact that the US chose to deny Modi a visa. And I believe no one in India does too! But the justification that the US has been offering for its act is ridiculous and deserves all the derision being heaped on it!
The Government of India, the Indian media and the public in general have shown how hollow the US claims are. Article after article has been appearing in the media raking up instances after instances in which the US has acted in a diametrically opposite manner in similar circumstances.
The response to the US State Department’s decision to rescind Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s tourist/business visa and deny him a diplomatic visa, thus effectively debarring him from entering America whose doors were flung open to welcome Sinn Fein’s leader Gerry Adams the previous week, is enlightening.
[emphasis mine]
[Ref: Callous US, guilty Bush]
This shows hypocrisy.
The moral horse on which the US seeks to mount has weak knees too! With the skeletons of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay stored in the cupboards, American claims about the human rights violations in Gujarat somehow do not feel right. More so when NHRC itself has claimed that there was no substance in the claims made by the US while making the case for revoking of Modi’s visa.
This blows the ‘moral grounds’ argument right out of the water!
So now we’ve seen that there are no moral grounds for the US action and that the US had acted in a hypocritical manner. But surely there must be a legal ground for the decision to revoke the visa! … Let us see…
The specific section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that has been cited says, ‘Any alien who, while serving as a foreign government official, was responsible for or directly carried out, at any time during the preceding 24-month period, particularly severe violations of religious freedom, as defined in section 3 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, and the spouse and children, if any, are inadmissible.’
Even if Mr Modi were to be guilty as charged by the US administration, American law does not debar him from securing a visa because more than 24 months have lapsed since the Godhra massacre and subsequent riots in Gujarat which occurred during the last days of February and early days of March 2002.
[emphasis not mine]
[Ref: Callous US, guilty Bush]
Aww shucks! … there go the legal grounds too!!
So what we have is that US has merely flexed its muscle purely because it has muscles and because it has the right to flex them. But it was an arbitrary action without any rhyme or reason… neither legal nor moral. Moreover, it would appear as though the decision to revoke the visa was a diplomatic gaffe, now that the leading political parties in India have condemned the US step… something that seemed highly unlikely, given the fact there’s no love lost between Modi and say the Congress.
There’s a line of thought which says that the US should not have denied a visa to a constitutionally elected head of a popular government. But then there are also people who contradict this by saying that even Hitler had won an election…
Modi argues that he won a free and fair election but so did Hitler once! So, what’s the point? Maybe we should just drop the concept of criminal trial and just conduct secret ballot to decide if someone is guilty or not!
[Ref: Ashish's Niti]
I think that argument is not valid! Hitler’s notoriety is because he sanctioned the Holocaust. But that happened in 1939, which is many years after he fought/won an election (for details on Hitler’s electoral exploits, you can read How Hitler Became a Dictator). Also, Hitler’s National Socialist Party never won a majority in any election. In Narendra Modi’s case, the situation is something else altogether. Modi led the BJP to majority in Gujarat elections, after the riots. And Modi himself won the Maninagar seat by a margin of over 75,000 votes! So the Hitler comparison doesn’t hold.
Finally… for all the talk of genocide by the Coalition Against Genocide, I refuse to consider the Gujarat riots as a genocide.
In Gujarat 2002, however, of the total deaths (as per the home ministry’s official annual report for 2002-2003, page 6), about a third were Hindus (including 59 charred in a train compartment) and 200 in all were killed in police firing. If, at one stage, 100,000 Muslims were struggling in relief camps, so were 40,000 Hindus. Thus, Gujarat 2002 was not genocide of one ethnic community as the UNDP report alleges.
[emphasis not mine]
[Ref: UNDP is ignorant and insolent]
What more can I say?!
7 comments
hypocrisy yes, arm twisting ys, but the only feeling I am left with is - Narendra Modi finally gets his due - if not from the powers that be within India, than from elsewhere. sorry but no sympathies or outrage over this one… the funniest thing about this whole issue is the way Mr. Manmohan Singh has been ‘condeming’ this US action - Singh turns politician finally?
Charu >> There is no question of sympathy here. It’s about international diplomacy. If you think Modi got what he deserved, then think again! He has consolidated his position in Gujarat just when a revolt was waiting to happen (it may still happen, but he’s got some breathing space for the moment!). He has got all political parties including the PM on his side. He gets to make statements on morality/hypocrisy and yet not be ridiculed for them. He got to deliver his speech to woo the hoteliers over a satellite link without setting foot in the US. And he’s got the NHRC to proclaim that they’ve never named him in their reports. He has got the UK government to go out of its way to state that they will not revoke his visa. And the list goes on…
As far as Dr. Manmohan Singh is concerned, I don’t think he really is the apolitical statesman everyone claims he is! He showed that he’s a pukka politician even when he was the FM. When he could’ve (and should’ve) pressed ahead with reforms , he had bowed to political compulsions and held back reforms which meant India lost several years even after opening up its economy during the early nineties.
The point of my Hitler analogy was that one can always win elections in a democracy without being just to everybody. Hitler was voted to power by majority of non-Jewish Germans! In the same way, Modi was voted to power by an religious majority! That doesn’t prove that he is not a criminal or he performed his duty as a CM!
Also, why focus on US hypocrisy? US and its Govt. is not accountable to us! And also, hypocrisy is very small crime compared to religious discrimination and deriliction of one’s duty!
And by the way, are we claiming that India always had and will always have hypocrisy free visa policy? If not, then our criticism of US hypocrisy will itself be hypocritic, won’t it?
Ashish >> Hypocrisy abounds in Indian government. There is no question about that. But then, in this particular case it’s the US hypocrisy that is in focus. When the Indian government acts in a hypocritical manner (which is… quite often), we shall decry it.
As far as visa policy is concerned, the right to grant or deny a visa is not being questioned here. Only the reason being offered in its support!
Also, Hitler stood for Presidential elections, but never won. Even with a non-Jewish majority which could’ve voted him into power. Hitler’s path to power was studded with Machiavellian manipulations which included the infamous Reichstag fire… not public support!
Actually Optymistic - I truly hate Modi, but….
.. in this case it is not about Narendra Modi - mass murdererer - but Narendra Modi elected CM of Gujarat.
It is like India, banning Condelliza Rice for ‘genocide’ in Iraq. If the US wants to win brownie points with the Muslim world, it will be better adviced to improve its policies in the Middle East, rather than put out this kind of symbolic sham.
What bugs me most about the US actions is that a fortnight ago there were strong rumours about the Gujarat state BJP dumping Modi. He has become a liability and an embarassment for all concerned. But, now with the US giving him a ‘martyr’ status we are going to be stuck with him for the forseeable future.
Harini >> You actually mirror the point I’m trying to make in post!
Dear all,
To me the US action against modi is justified but yeh US holds a very bad reputation so for as Human rights violation is concerned. For argument sake, let us forget about what US did to modi. Look my friend whatever happened in Gujrat is shame for the whole country and its secular character. In india there are about > 20 millions minorities and Indian government is responsible for taking care of their security, freedom, religion etc. But ironically opposite is true. The recent event of Orissa is fresh to all, could you justify that as well. VHP,RSS, Bajrangdal etc are nothing but terrorists, they should be banned and treated equally as Taliban, SIMI etc. Modi is a killed and he is wholly solely responsible for what happened in his state. If we really want India to grow we must protect our minorities first.
Cheers
Shah
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