Strange Bedfellows
Wed, September 24 2008
At least five Indo-Canadian activist groups have joined in angry protest against Canada’s nascent relationship with the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat, and its long-serving Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has twice been denied entry to the United States and was blacklisted by the previous Liberal government in Ottawa for his alleged involvement in the Gujarat Riots, which reportedly claimed the lives of 790 Muslims in 2002.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently announced the opening of a Canadian trade office in Gujarat, where rapid industrialization, modernization of agricultural practices and technological advancements have led to a remarkable 11 per cent economic growth rate of the past five years.
But behind the state’s success story lurks a darker chapter in modern Indian history.
Chief Minister Modi, the longest serving Chief Minister in Gujarat’s history since the installment of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in 2001, was denied a U.S. entry visa twice for his government’s alleged involvement in the massacre that followed the burning of a train carrying Hindu passengers in February 2002.
Over 50 Hindus died in the train tragedy, which was blamed on Muslim extremists by the Hindu nationalist BJP.
Although an inquiry initiated by the central government of India later found that the deaths were an accident, Hindu extremists subsequently killed hundreds – some independent estimates by rights groups and NGOs suggest thousands – of Muslims, allegedly at the behest of the Modi administration.
As many as 254 Hindus were also killed in retaliatory violence, with more than 150,000 people, mostly Muslims, displaced in the aftermath of the Gujarat Riots.
Modi’s government was accused of shielding the people involved in the massacre.
Subsequent reports from Human Rights Watch and The National Human Rights Commission claimed that Modi and his ministers had complicity in the riots “that was tacit, if not explicit.”
A U.S. State Department report found, “a comprehensive failure on the part of the State Government of Gujarat to control persistent violations of rights.”
A sustained campaign by human rights groups led to the reopening of several cases following the intervention of the Supreme Court of India. A campaign that continues.
And so, it was with alarm and outrage that rights watchers and secularist activists in Canada learned that Chief Minister Modi was being feted by the Canadian India Foundation and Canada’s highest-ranking political power brokers.
Initially rumored that Modi would be coming to Toronto, the hard line Hindu they call the BJP’s “anti-terror mascot” ended up addressing the Canadians Friends of Gujarat through video conference.
The event was organized by the Canada India Foundation at the Pearson Convention Centre in Brampton, ON, ostensibly to raise awareness and funds for needy girls in Gujarat.
The angry supporters of Radical Desis, a loosely connected group of South Asian human rights activists started an online petition to stop his visit and began sending letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the leaders of the other major political parties seeking the revocation of Modi’s visa. They also demanded that if Modi has already entered the country he should be removed immediately. They were also upset about the proximity of the CIF, with the Canadian government.
During the video conference last Friday, Modi said the world today faces twin threats from global warming and global terrorism.
“All nations have tightened anti-terror laws after 9/11, but not India,” he said. “I have appealed to New Delhi for a tougher law for four years, and you have seen what terrorists are doing everyday. Please all of you write, e-mail to the prime minster on this issue.”
Modi also trumpeted Gujarat’s economic successes, urged Canadian Gujaratis to invest in the state, adding: “I urge every NRI (non-resident Indian) to persuade 15 non-Indians to visit our land and help us earn foreign money and create jobs.”
Even former Gujaratis, including Vancouver resident Ramesh Bhai Patel, who is from Mehsana district of Gujarat, the same region where Narendra Modi was born and raised, question Modi’s divisive politics.
“I don’t like his policy of polarization of the Hindus against the Muslims,” said Patel. “There are many like me despite the fact that our area is mainly pro-BJP.
“Although we liked some of the development works he did in the beginning, but there is something wrong with his politics.”
A statement circulated by Radical Desis accused the CIF of dishonouring the victims of the “Gujarat genocide” by honouring Modi.
The statement, entitled “Stop the Butcher of Gujarat from coming to Canada,” described Modi as a long standing member of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), an ultra-Hindu nationalist group “modeled after and inspired by European fascist organizations.”
The statement also pointed out that since Modi had violated the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, he was denied entry to the U.S. once in 2005 and again in August this year.
The U.S.-based Coalition Against Genocide has consistently opposed any attempt to grant a U.S. visa to Modi. Its member in Vancouver, Hari Sharma, is also connected with Radical Desis, and said: “I am proud to be a part of the group that stopped Modi from coming to U.S.”
Harjaap Grewal of Vancouver immigrant/refugee rights group, No One is Illegal, told the Asian Pacific Post that even if Modi did not come to Canada, the whole episode needs questioning.
“We have to find the real agenda of the Canada India Foundation and the motive behind the Conservative government’s growing association with the group,” he said.
Avtar Gill, the leader of the Taraksheel Sabha, an Indian group of rationalists, said that Modi and others like him should always be opposed wherever they go.
“The people who indulge in politics of hate have no place in a civilized world,” he said.
Added Surinder Sangha, B.C. President of the Indo-Canadian Workers’ Association, of Ottawa’s budding relationship with Gujarat and its Chief Minister: “The voters should take into account these alignments in the coming federal election.”
A statement commending Harper’s trade office announcement by CIF Co-Chair, Ramesh Chotai read: “This is a strong first step towards Canada establishing strong trade and economic relations with the State of Gujarat after many years of indifference toward India’s fastest growing industrialized state.
“This move indeed recognizes the potential for substantial trade and investment opportunities for Canadians with Gujarat.”
Modi also praised the Harper government in his video message.
Hari Sharma, however, held a different view.
“It’s the corporate structure of Canada that is desperate to ride on the bandwagon of India, which is growing as a major nuclear power,” he cautioned. “The Liberals would have done the same in a changed scenario.”
The CIF claims to be a non partisan and non political organization that was established in 2007 to foster support for stronger bilateral relations between Canada and India and to educate Canadians on the changing face of India.
Its convener, Naresh Raghubeer, said that he is shocked at the behaviour of the people who are organizing the protest against Chief Minister Modi.
“Their suggestion that he is coming to Toronto is factually wrong. It seems insane that they are protesting his video conference,” he told the Asian Pacific Post.
Raghubeer claims that the foundation has no political affiliations and any individual affiliation would be a private matter.
“We are just trying to raise funds for the charity that is helping the poor girl children. I don’t understand how that offends?’’
Describing the protesters as “ultra leftists,” he said: “They have nothing better to do. If they have to protest, they should go and protest the people of Gujarat, who have elected Modi.
“To my knowledge, there are Muslim members in his cabinet and people who were affected by the riots have been compensated by the Indian government.”
Asked when he would visit Canada, a country where he has been blacklisted in the past, said Modi: “Right now I am only obsessed about Gujarat.”
By Gurpreet Singh
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