Modi is ‘poster child for India’s failure to punish the violent’.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A pair of leading US religious freedom advocates have expressed their disappointment in Indian Prime Minister hopeful Narendra Modi.
Mary Ann Glendon and Katrina Lantos Swett have written an Op-Ed piece for CNN entitled “The Two Faces of India,” which can be read on their website, in which they criticize the BJP leader’s history of violence, in particular his alleged connection to the 2002 Gujarat riots. Glendon is the commissioner of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), while Swett is the Commission’s vice-chair-woman.
“The poster child for India’s failure to punish the violent remains Narendra Modi, who is Gujarat’s chief minister – a post he held during the 2002 riots,” says the piece. It was published on the blog entitled Global Public Square, which is operated by CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria.
The piece criticizes the fact that Modi has become the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) candidate for Prime Minister, and if elected, would not be in the best interests of the country.
“Sadly […] Gujarat’s most controversial resident is the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in India’s 2014 prime ministerial election,” Glendon and Swett go on to say, closing the piece by saying “So, as 2014 draws nigh, whose vision will be embraced? Which India will prevail – that of religious freedom or religious intolerance? Time will tell.”
The USCIRF also played an integral role in telling the George W. Bush Administration not to administer a visa to Modi during that presidency. If Modi — a man that the US doesn’t seem keen on even letting into their country — does end up getting elected as the next Prime Minister of India, its effect on the relationship between the US and India will be of great interest to the international community.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com
1 Comment
I don’t think mr modi cares about any honeymoon he has never married in the true sense of the word…he is a different kind of man that the west has seen from india in the past….he will mean business and get things done for his country with or wo USA. It is more important that how long of a honeymoon he gives to this new indo us relationship to his American counterpart . Can Obama match his guts, mental strength and determination… .?