Real story behind visa denial to Modi

[Guest guest]

>

>Rogue elements within the Indian Government fed false information to deceive the

>U.S. State Department. Their agenda to sabotage growing Indo-U.S. relations in

>the war against terrorism.

>

>N.S. Rajaram

>

>Diplomatic gaffe

> There is an influential group of rogue elements that has wormed its way into

>the Indian Government that is bent on sabotaging growing Indo-American

>relations in defense and anti-terrorism. That is the picture emerging from

>individuals close to the Indian government as well as U.S. diplomatic sources.

>

>The newly appointed Secretary of State Dr. Condolezza Rice is known to be

>friendly towards India. Yet, on the heels of her maiden visit to the region as

>Secretary of State, she found herself embroiled in a major controversy over a

>relatively minor issue like visa to a local politician. She had more important

>things to do. But as a result of this inadvertent diplomatic gaffe, the State

>Department is now engaged in a damage control exercise, no matter what its

>public posture. (A great power like the U.S. can hardly admit that it committed

>a blunder.)

>

>It was not supposed to happen this way, especially since Dr. Rice was the

>highest U.S. official to visit the region after President Bush’s second

>inauguration. One can never be sure, especially after the diplomatic gaffe over

>visa denial, but Dr Rice seems to have come with directions to make two major

>announcements. First, an October visit to India and Pakistan by President Bush.

>Second, increased defense and technology cooperation with both India and

>Pakistan against the background of improving Indo-Pak relations. The major

>beneficiary would be India in both defense and nuclear technology.

>

>This was derailed by rogue elements within the Indian Government, which managed

>to deceive some American officials by feeding false information. They told

>State Department officials that the Indian public would overwhelmingly welcome

>any U.S. action against the Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, who they assured was

>extremely unpopular in India. Believing this would be seen as a friendly

>gesture to further improve Indo-U.S. ties, the U.S. announced denial of visa to

>Modi.

>

>The Indian reaction was exactly the opposite of what the U.S. had been told.

>They were totally unprepared for it— with Indians seeing the decision as an

>assault on India’s sovereignty. The U.S. had committed a major diplomatic

>blunder over a relatively minor issue.

>

>Rogue elements: their agenda

> Who was behind this act of sabotage? Accounts vary in detail, but all agree on

>one point: the initiative to deny visa to Modi came from the Indian side, and

>from people at the highest levels of the Indian Government, possibly the PMO

>itself, though as usual, Sri Manmohan Singh was kept in the dark. It is no

>secret that in the present government, political cronies and court favorites—

>anti-Hindu activists and sundry missionaries enjoy extraordinary influence.

>Now, some of them have wormed their way into an outfit close to the U.S. State

>Department.

>

> Their identity came out in the open within a week, when the United States

>Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a 283-page

>report "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy.” What is strange about this

>report is that it compliments the UPA but reiterated its concern over the

>situation in Gujarat— about school textbooks of all things! In a condescending

>tone, the report observes: "Following its electoral victory in May, the

>government [uPA] began to address a number of human rights concerns that have

>arisen in recent years. For example, it moved quickly to rewrite school

>textbooks...”

>

> This is a dead giveaway. Since when did the U.S. Government begin to worry

>about textbooks in Gujarat schools? Actually, what the report contains is a

>word-for-word reproduction of numerous charges by Indian secularists,

>especially Christian missionary activists like Father Cederick Prakash, George

>Sajjan and others of their ilk carrying on anti-Hindu propaganda under the

>cover of “human rights.” They used their contacts in the U.S. Christian Right

>(evangelicals) to get their input into the USCIRF report. Then they used their

>media contacts in India to give exaggerated importance to this part of this

>unreadable and never read report as “State Department” policy, which the

>gullible Indian media seems to have swallowed.

>

> The truth of the matter is that USCIRF is not a government body but a

>commission of outside experts on contract to the Government. (I have served in

>similar capacity for NASA and other U.S. organizations.) Their reports are

>signed off by a relatively minor bureaucrat (called a “contract monitor”), and

>are filed away into obscurity. What made it different this time were two

>initiatives: (1) a successful effort by moles in the Indian Government to

>mislead the U.S. leading to Modi’s visa denial; (2) a media campaign for their

>input into the USCIRF report with exaggerated claims. It is no accident that

>the head of the USCIRF happens to be one Priya Bansal, an Indian American with

>close ties to Gujarat based Christian organizations.

>

> There is more to this treachery than hatred of Modi. It is part of a larger

>agenda to sabotage improving Indo-U.S. relations. In fact, on the heels of this

>setback, the U.S. made a major announcement: it wants to help India become a

>major power in the 21st century, which these rogue elements want stopped. Nor

>do they not want improved Indo-Pak relations. Keeping the conflict alive serves

>their interests better.

>

> In this nefarious campaign, the culprits seem to have enlisted the help of some

>right-wing evangelical elements and Leftist academics in America. Both are

>traditionally anti-Hindu. In addition, many of them intensely dislike Dr.

>Condoleeza Rice as too moderate and too friendly towards India. My information

>is that two institutions, one a university in Georgia with links to

>conservative Christian outfits and the other, the so-called California

>Institute of Integral Studies, were at the vanguard of this campaign.

>

>One cannot also rule out an element of racism in all this, for many of these

>Christian right-wingers are only one generation removed from the Civil Rights

>Movement, which they bitterly opposed. They see Dr. Rice as a moderate African

>American, and a brilliant and successful one to boot. (Indian Christians of

>course prefer to associate with whites and generally avoid blacks as I have

>noticed in the U.S. Their wish is to see India ruled again by white people.)

>

>Dysfunctional government

> What seems to have caught the Americans on the wrong foot was the near

>dysfunctional state of the UPA Government with its multiple power centers (and

>without accountability). After nearly six years dealing with a capable

>government with firm direction and strong leadership, they did not expect to be

>blindsided by rogue elements going over the Prime Minister’s head and meddling

>in international relations. Americans took their statements about Modi in good

>faith, only to be stabbed in the back. It was a classic case of double cross.

>

> One can be sure that Americans have taken note of this and will be more careful

>in the future. A great power does not like to be made a fool of. The U.S.

>Government is not the UPA government and Condoleeza Rice is not Manmohan Singh.

>She is a brilliant and cultured person who does not surround herself with

>political cronies like Margaret Alva and Ajit Jogi or unscrupulous foreign

>adventurers like Quattrocchi, Benny Hinn— and now Grace Brenta.

>

> There are unconfirmed reports that U.S. authorities are looking into the

>activities and the funding sources of those behind this misadventure— like the

>impoverished California Institute of Integral Studies. Its loudest voice, an

>academic nonentity called Angana Chatterji is close to several Islamist

>publications and websites, where she has condemned President Bush and his

>policies while taking a consistently pro-Jihadi stand. She has openly boasted

>that she was responsible for the Modi visa denial.

>

> In the final analysis, the Indian Government and its spinelessness leadership

>was more to blame for this diplomatic fiasco than anyone else. But thing is

>certain, “human rights” has been hijacked by Jihadi sympathizers hostile to

>both India and the United States. One can only hope that Indians have learnt

>their lesson. Americans certainly have.

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