Last year, in March, the visit by a group of three Republican members of the US Congress — Aaron Schock, Cynthia Lummis and Cathy M Rodgers — to Gujarat to meet its then chief minister Narendra Modi was at the centre of a huge controversy. Today, that same visit is being seen in some circles as a reason for the Republicans, who form the majority in the US Congress, to have an advantage in building bridges with the Modi-led BJP government in India.
“The visit by the Congress members to Gujarat to meet Modi in March 2013 was the first important top-level move towards resolving his US visa issue [Modi’s visa was revoked in the mid-2000s]. The Democrats, led by US President Barack Obama, on the other hand, took no step to resolve the controversy till Modi was elected prime minister,” says Chicago-based businessman Shalabh Shalli Kumar, founder of National Indian American Public Policy Institute, a think tank that has been lobbying for Modi in the US Congress.
Beginning of a New Relationship
Kumar, who chairs the Indian American advisory council of the House Republican Conference, was at the centre of a controversy in November 2013 when his efforts to get Modi to address the US Congress at Capitol Hill via a video link were thwarted. Now putting all that behind him, Kumar is trying to win support in the US Congress for a change in the draft of the US Immigration Reform Bill, which he thinks will damage Indian IT industry and companies in a big way.
“The Modi-led government should take up this issue immediately with the US Congress so that the anti-India provisions in the immigration bill are removed before it becomes a law,” Kumar told ET Magazine.
Kumar believes that cordial relations between Modi and the Republicans will form the cornerstone of Indo-US relations moving forward. Rodgers, Congress representative for Washington’s 5th Congressional District, sent a message to congratulate Modi soon after he was elected. While not all sections of Indian-Americans agree with Kumar, political analysts are pretty much unanimous that the big steps in relationship-building between the Modi government and the US Congress need to be taken now.
“The US should find areas of priority for the Modi administration and figure out the shared areas of interest and work on those. The US Congress can make a big gesture by freeing up exports of natural gas to India from regulatory hurdles,” suggests Sanjay Puri, chairman of the US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC). Others like Suhag Shukla, executive director of the Hindu American Foundation, also hope that Modi and Obama will meet soon.
“When and whether that meeting occurs in the US or India, the US’ diplomatic outreach will need to be respectful and humble given the visa denial debacle,” says Shukla. She adds that the White House could have acted sooner and the highly selective application of US law showed a general lack of foresight and regard for India’s democracy and justice system.
Such a Long Wait
Meanwhile, in view of the almost decade long visa ban by the US on Modi, Indian-Americans are wondering how long it will take for him to visit the US. A section of them, who supported Modi and the BJP in the elections, feels that the United Nations General Assembly session in New York between September 16 and 29 could be the ideal opportunity for a Modi visit.
“USINPAC is working on having him invited for a meeting with President Obama on the sidelines of the UN but more preferably in Washington, DC in the White House,” lets on Puri. For that, the US government needs to walk a few extra steps, he adds.
Whenever that visit happens, a host of Indian-American organizations will try to cash in on building a strong relationship with India’s prime minister. Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP), for instance, plans a huge reception in Modi’s honour which they believe will be attended by around 50,000 Indian American supporters of BJP.
“We have been waiting a long time to welcome Modiji to the US and we plan to have a very big event for him in either New York or New Jersey,” Chandrakant Patel, president, OFBJP, USA, told ET Magazine. Other organizations that had come out when Modi’s US visa was revoked are waiting with the proverbial bated breath. “Indian-American hoteliers have always had cordial relations with Modi and we’ve had several meetings with him to discuss investments in Gujarat over many years.
And considering that we have been catalysts in Modi’s visa controversy in the US and he had been invited to our convention in 2005 when his US visa was revoked, we will now look forward to inviting him to speak to our members whenever he visits the US,” says Mukesh J Mowji, principal of Silver Creek Hospitality, a hotel development and management company in Silicon Valley, and past chairman of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA). Mowji, incumbent chairman of AAHOA, had spearheaded the effort to have Modi visit the US as chief guest of the annual AAHOA convention in 2005.
Source: The Economic Times
