Friends of Modi are waiting

NDA drew parallels between Gandhi's Dandi march and denial of US visa to Modi, writes Rathin Das. Have Your Say

The NDA on Sunday sought to draw parallels between Mahatma Gandhi's Dandi march and the US's denial of a visa to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi.

HT Image

At a 'Bharat Swabhimaan' rally here, BJP chief LK Advani said that just like Gandhi's Dandi march was transformed into a larger movement — the freedom struggle, the visa denial issue would snowball into a movement for India's self-respect.

While both Advani and Modi thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for taking up the issue with Washington, Modi launched an attack against the US and said that it owed an explanation to its people for taking decisions on the basis of 'false allegations' by NGOs.

The US is scared of Gujarat and India emerging as major economic powers and is therefore trying to meddle in India's affairs, Modi claimed.

But for all the rhetoric, the BJP was careful not to upset Uncle Sam. The BJP leaders repeatedly appealed to the sizeable audience to restrict their slogans only to 'positive' ones like Bharat Mata ki jai and Vande mataram. Why? Slogans against the US or President George W. Bush might ultimately harm Gujarat's interests since a large number of Gujaratis are US visa aspirants.

This is also probably why no leader endorsed former Lok Sabha speaker Manohar Joshi's call for the closure of US consulates in India.

Meanwhile, in the US, the Gujarati-dominated Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) denied reports that it had cancelled the invitation to Modi to be the chief guest at its convention in Florida this week.

AAHOA treasurer Danny Patel told HT that "the invitation is very much on. The news that has been circulated is completely wrong".

If US authorities fail to resolve the visa denial issue by March 24, when the hoteliers' three-day convention begins at Fort Lauderdale in Florida, Modi will address the meeting by video-conferencing.

Modi was scheduled to address an Indian-American gathering in New York's Madison Square Garden via satellite later on Sunday too.

(With S. Rajagopalan in Washington)