Indian Minorities Advocacy Network, (ImanNet), the oldest advocacy group of Indian Americans launched to protect and promote pluralism, has congratulated the prestigious Wharton School on disinviting Narendra Modi from giving the keynote address at the Wharton India economic forum after widespread protests from faculty students and human rights groups in the US.
“The student forum is trying to save face for its invitation to the notorious pogrom politician by saying that they apologise to Modi for any inconvenience caused by the disinvitation. That is shameful, they should apologise to the victims of massacres and rapes that were perpetrated under the Modi government in 2002, and who are still awaiting justice. They must also apologise to Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar and other leaders who promote pluralism and were insulted by being invited to speak at the same forum as the pogrom politician,” Dr. Shaik Ubaid, the president of ImanNet and a founder of the Coalition Against Genocide, said in a statement on 4 March.
Modi was made a persona non grata in the US as a result of a broad-based campaign launched by CAG in 2005 (http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org/2005.campaign.php), thereby dashing his hopes of being a candidate for prime minister in the last elections. His supporters in the US have been working hard to get his visa revocation suspended but have failed so far because of CAG’s diligence. Some leaders of CAG actually welcome these attempts as it helps them keep the limelight in the US on Modi and his movement.
ImanNet also condemned the harassment of the faculty and students who had led the successful campaign at the Wharton School to disinvite Modi, by the supporters of the supremacist and extremist Hindutva movement. CAG leaders were similarly harassed after leading the campaign to get Modi’s visa revoked in 2005 but suffered no damage or loss. The harassers who usually work below the radar in the US were exposed as supporters and funders of hate.
“Those in the US who have been desperately trying to help reinvent Modi so that he could be made acceptable to the international community, in order to becoming a viable candidate for the position of prime minister of India, are doing a great disservice to humanity, India and Hinduism and they do not represent India or Hinduism. They are harming the future of second generation Hindu-Americans by usurping the name of Hinduism,” declared Dr. Ubaid.