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Wharton India forum cancels Modi's
videoconference address
Monday March 04, 2013 08:25:04 PM,
Agencies
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Washington: The
cancellation of an invitation to speak to Gujarat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi has cast a long shadow over the prestigious
Wharton India Economic Forum's March 23 conclave.
The abrupt cancellation Sunday of the invitation to Modi to speak
via live videoconference at the annual student-run India-centric
conference in Philadelphia came after a war of words between Modi
supporters and detractors even as corporate America is making a
beeline for his state.
Modi may have been denied a US visa for his alleged role in the
2002 Gujarat riots, but foreign dignitaries lavished praise on the
third term chief minister at the Vibrant Gujarat 2013 Summit in
Gandhinagar in January.
Among them was Ron Somers, president of the US-India Business
Council (USIBC), an advocacy group of 300 top American and a score
Indian companies seeking stronger commercial relations with India.
Modi has "created a magnet for investment," said Somers, who is
among the other keynote speakers at the forum, hosted by the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, which has
emerged as one of the largest and most prestigious India-focused
business conferences since its inception in 1996.
Other speakers listed for this year's forum are Planning
Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Minister of
State for IT & Communications Milind Deora
In explanation of its abrupt cancellation of the invitation to
Modi, the organizers said: "Our team felt that the potential
polarising reactions from sub-segments of the alumni base, student
body, and our supporters, might put Mr. Modi in a compromising
position, which we would like to avoid at all costs, especially in
the spirit of our conference's purpose."
The student body which runs the annual forum said it was
"extremely impressed with Modi's credentials, governance,
ideologies and leadership, which was the primary reason for his
invitation".
However, as a responsible student body within the University of
Pennsylvania, "we must consider the impact on multiple
stakeholders in our ecosystem".
The surprise move Sunday came following a strongly-worded letter
from a group of Wharton's professors and students saying they were
outraged to learn that the forum had invited Modi as a keynote
speaker.
"This is the same politician who was refused a diplomatic visa by
the United States State Department on March 18, 2005 on the ground
that he, as chief minister, did nothing to prevent a series of
orchestrated riots that targeted Muslims in Gujarat," it said.
"Modi still does not have a US visa to enter the US, but Wharton
plans to present him on Skype to the audience. Recently there have
been efforts to whitewash Modi's grim record and to grant him
respectability. Wharton's invitation lends itself to doing just
that," the letter added.
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