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UK students group says it was denied permission to attend PM Modi’s event
UK-based students group NISAU had written a letter to PM Modi last week to take action over Kathua, Unnao and Surat rape cases.
A group of UK-based Indian students and alumni said it was denied permission to attend an event addressed by Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday despite an earlier confirmation.
The National Indian Students and Alumni Union UK (NISAU) said on its Facebook page that its delegates were not sent their tickets for the ‘Bharat Ki Baat, Sabke Saath’ event where the PM was expected to respond to its letter on women safety issue in India.
At a press conference of foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale in London on Wednesday, a student belonging to the group asked why the tickets of eight out of nine people were cancelled, according to a report in NDTV.
Gokhale was quoted as saying that he cannot answer the question as it was a press conference about India-British relations and the PM’s visit to Great Britain.
Last week, NISAU, a group that has Indian and Asian students from 20 British universities, had written to PM Modi asking that swift justice and extraordinary measures be taken in light of the rape cases in Kathua, Unnao and Surat and more generally to improve safety for women in India.
The group claimed on Wednesday its signatories were being ‘pressurised to retract’.
PM Modi had addressed the Indian diaspora at a townhall called ‘Bharat ki Baat, Sabke Saath’ at London’s iconic is Central Hall Westminster.
Referring to recent incidents of rape, Modi said the matter should not be politicised. “A little girl is raped, it’s such a painful incident. But will we say ‘these many (rapes) happened during your government’s rule and these many in mine’? There can’t be an approach more wrong.
“A rape is a rape. How can we tolerate such cruelty to a daughter?” he added.
