A talk that didn’t materialize has further embarrassed the Gujarat CM.
By Sujeet Rajan
NEW YORK: The popular perception amongst Narendra Modi supporters in the United States is that once he is elected the Prime Minister of India next year – that for his supporters is a foregone conclusion – the United States will bend over backwards to felicitate him.
That the Gujarat Chief Minister will magnanimously forgive that trifling issue of a non-issue of a visa that has condemned him for years, has had the effect of portraying him as a global criminal. The post-election bhaichara will be intense. It will be glory days ahead.
Modi may indeed win the elections in India. But there are strong indications now on Capitol Hill that his days of being a pariah are going to be prolonged in the US, even in the post-election scenario of him being the Prime Minister of India.
It is also apparent that Modi and his campaign has not prepared their foreign policy and lobbying effort in the US. They have failed to resolve the issue of visa denial to Modi. Not gone ahead and have direct talks with the Obama administration and the Republican leaders, make it clear through the media that they are keen to have Modi visit the US before the general elections in India. Not later. If ever.
And it is clear that most of those Modi supporters in the country, like the ones who congregate at a popular television studio in New Jersey, and in some other places, to hear him talk via video conference, don’t have the political muscle or the lobbying fervor to persuade the US to let Modi have his say here. They are content to have him address them from Ahmedabad.
When news came out that Modi was going to address lawmakers on Capitol Hill, on November 19th, after some top Republican leaders invited him to do so, it seemed that the right wing lobby here were bonding with the right wing in India. To go one up on the Obama administration, and also to prepare for the scenario where Modi comes to power in India, and a Republican takes over the White House, some felt.
But not only did Modi not end up speaking on Capitol Hill, it has turned out to be a major embarrassment for him and his supporters in the US.
Anti-Modi groups like Coalition Against Genocide went on a battle mode to thwart Modi from addressing the Republican leadership and some select Indian Americans from around the country who were invited that day to Capitol Hill termed as ‘Bharat Divas’.
And not only did the anti-Modi supporters fulfill their goal of thwarting Modi’s diplomatic coup on Capitol Hill, they achieved something far more in the process, much to their glee: some top Republican leaders actually refuted the alleged invitation to Modi, saying they were not aware of such an invitation in the first place, and castigated a key Indian American Republican supporter, Shalab Kumar, who runs the National Indian-American Public Policy Institute (NIAPPI) – distanced themselves from him and his activities.
It was Kumar who put out the news that Modi was invited to speak on Capitol Hill.
It is also a big blow to Modi’s lobbying efforts over the years that a Republican House Representative, Washington state Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who also chairs the powerful House Republican Conference (HRC), and has visited Modi in Gujarat and praised him and the state when there, backed out totally from the invite, saying she was misrepresented.
The Coalition Against Genocide released a press statement: “NIAPPI, the key agent behind this misrepresentation and fraudulent promotional tactics, is a Hindu nationalist front organization posing as a public policy institute. It is a resting ground for RSS stalwarts. In the case of this event, Kumar and company tried to run piggyback on an event titled the ‘Indian American Meetup’ that has nothing to do with NIAPPI, and that is indeed taking place inside the Capitol Hill building on November 19.”
Pro-Modi groups and their supporters, who release press releases when he is going to address them via video from Gujarat, have not issued any statements on this turnaround in the invitation, have not made any attempt to salvage the situation. None of his supporters offered instead to have him address the Diaspora at some venue in the DC area.
With the Obama administration being deemed as anti-Modi, and now the GOP also distancing themselves from him, the circle of humiliation for the Gujarat Chief Minister is now complete in the US.
And carrying the momentum they have received from the major victory, the anti-Modi lobby is now poking Modi from different quarters, with accusations of his involvement in the Gujarat riots again surfacing strongly: in the last few days, members of a commission on religion appointed by the Obama administration has condemned Modi for the Gujarat riots, a bipartisan House resolution has warned of not having any ties with the Hindu right, and to make religious freedom and tolerance a critical aspect of the US-India Strategic Dialogue, and a hearing on Capitol Hill on the violence against Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh, brings the uncomfortable fact of India’s own track record of riots, with Modi’s face looming large there.
More importantly, the treatment to Modi is now emerging as a larger issue, the 800 pound gorilla in the room, which needs to be discussed by policy experts: how is India’s relationship with the US going to pan out if Modi becomes the Prime Minister?
The business and trade ties are surely not going to be hit. Both countries have increased the FDI over the years. India is now United States’ eight largest FDI partner. US see the potential of having their companies do business in India, to reach out to the more than 300 million middle class people there.
But it now seems clear that Modi will have a difficult time to reconcile to leaders in the US who have either never supported him, those who have condemned him, and those who have turned away from him.
Forget addressing the Diaspora here.
The point Modi needs to ponder is: who is he going to talk to on Capitol Hill? Who wants to talk to him?
(Sujeet Rajan is the Editor-in-Chief of The American Bazaar)
1 Comment
Guess who is having the last laugh