The Hindu : Front Page : Help make India powerful, Modi tells U.S. Indians

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 22, 2005

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Front Page

Help make India powerful, Modi tells U.S. Indians

By Manas Dasgupta

GANDHINAGAR, MARCH 21. Despite a drizzle, about 5,000 Gujaratis and other Indians settled in the United States gathered in New York City's Madison Square Garden today to see and hear on a giant screen the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, through a video-conferencing link. Mr. Modi was to travel to the U.S. but was denied a visa by the Bush administration.

During the video-conferencing, that began at 5.30 a.m. today and lasted for about an hour and forty minutes, Mr. Modi also answered questions from laypersons and journalists. He, however, avoided any criticism of the U.S. Government.

"I have no reaction," he told a questioner when asked about the denial of visa to him. "We should only take a resolve to make India such a powerful country that the world will make a beeline to seek visa and come to India," he said.

He said the concern and shock of the Indians in the U.S. was natural on his being denied a visa on flimsy grounds, "but the solidarity of the Indians wherever they are is our real strength."

Mr. Modi asked the NRIs in the U.S. to "ensure that opinions about your motherland are not formed on the basis of propaganda but after verification of facts. You will have to watch that decisions about your beloved country are not taken on the basis of contentions of a handful of vested interests or motivated groups."

Outlining India's guiding principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, Mr. Modi regretted that of late theocratic states and military dictatorships were "scoring better" in international diplomacy. "Freedom does not only mean allowing people to shout in a way that the other voice cannot be heard. Principles of democracy are based on justice and the course of justice necessarily involves the process of natural justice," he said.

Mr. Modi spoke about Gujarat as an investment destination and listed its infrastructural facilities and natural resources. India and the U.S., he said, were the two largest democracies in the world forged together by many common beliefs and traditions. And the Gujaratis living in the U.S., who had displayed the highest levels of professionalism and values, was a major reason for the bondage between the two countries.

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