E-Paper
Indian American wants US visa for Modi
A prominent Indian American physician has written to the White House requesting a "timely remedy" of the visa denial to Modi.
A prominent Indian American physician with strong connections in Washington has written to the White House requesting a "timely remedy" of the visa denial to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The letter written by Akshay Desai, a prominent Florida physician, said prompt attention should be paid to "this issue for a timely remedy to avoid significant political and diplomatic damage concerning US-India relations".
Desai is one of the 14 commissioners on the White House Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
The letter, addressed to Karl Rove, the powerful deputy chief of staff and senior political advisor to the president, says many "shocked" Indian American leaders from across the US had contacted Desai about the visa denial.
Desai said: "Modi is a democratically elected head of Gujarat state and has never been convicted of any crimes in any court. There was a systematic 'smear campaign' carried out by his opponents.
"Modi is a Hindu by religion and has been accused by some Muslim organisations of being anti-Muslim," he said.
Desai's letter comes even as Modi's supporters across the US have begun a campaign of inundating Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with faxes asking her to promptly resolve the issue of visa denial.
Dsaid, who is president and CEO of St. Petersburg, the Florida-based Universal Health Care, went on to say: "As you know, India has over 800 million Hindus and the previous Hindu-dominated BJP government of India and its leaders were and are very close to our administration. The Indian American community in the US is also predominantly Hindu and would feel humiliated."
He said Modi was coming to the US to address the convention of Indian American hotel and motel owners "and they all feel saddened by this decision".
"In America, we have a tradition of not acting on just 'wild accusations' but only on hard facts, and 'innocent until proven guilty in court', for our proper course of action on any matter.
"There are examples of several currently serving world leaders who have been accused of more egregious crimes, war crimes, and violations of human rights; but were allowed to visit the US and have been welcome at the White House also."
He requested Rove to "review the facts" and "arrive at the right decision to avoid any potential setback in US-India relations".
Desai told IANS: "I made the request to see the issue in the context of democracy. Modi is a democratically elected leader and there is a due process of law in India. I have written to explore whether there is any room for reconsideration."
He said he had no affiliations with any of the groups representing the interests of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the US and that he had written the letter purely in the context of democracy.
"This (Bush) government is committed to democracy not just at home but around the world and in that context it is important to see we are fair," he said.
