Dear Dr. Hussain, Thanks for keeping me in the loop.
As I have not received any direct reply from Ms. Courtney Fingar, for whatever reasons, let me take this opportunity to communicate to her. Hope you won't mind. Regards, Sukla Sen Dear Ms. Fingar, Dr. Hussain has already, rather eloquently, pointed out that conferring the award "to Gujarat state, rather than Mr Narendra Modi, the state's chief minister" hardly makes any difference as the state performs under its political leadership and this evaluation of its performance as epitomised by this award would be cited as an achievement and feat of its Chief Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, as the political head of the state. Unless of course there is a clear rider in the citation - an unambiguous expression of your condemnation of Gujarat pogrom - not "riot" - and Mr. Modi's role in it as the driver. Your contention that "Mr Modi’s alleged role in connection to the riots is under investigation but he denies any responsibility" is profoundly problematic. It effectively amounts to telling that Hitler could and should have not been held responsible for the Holocaust and moral judgements and actions following from that should have had been kept on hold till the Nuremberg Trials were over. That's, to put it rather mildly, pretty disturbing. It, understandably, provides us with a good glimpse into how your own mind works. Never mind. Mr. Modi as the incumbent Chief Minister of the state and a leading political figure of the second largest political party in the country enjoys enormous political clout to be able to very substantively offset any investigations implicating him. Not only that, legal processes in India are notoriously long drawn. So, let me repeat that the "allegations" against Mr. Modi will have to be read in terms of the following facts as already made out in my original missive to you: Quote Your attention, in this context, needs be drawn to the fact that as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr Modi, in February-March 2002, had presided over one of the worst communal carnages in post-Independence India. No less than the Indian Supreme Court, for that reason, had compared him with the Emperor Nero. And various international human rights organisations including the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch held him directly responsible for the gory mob violence in which hundreds of Muslims were killed, looted and raped. Even the National Human Rights Commission of India, a government body, strongly castigated him. He is at the moment under investigation for his role by an investigation team specially constituted by the Supreme Court of India, as per its express directive. Not only that, even today over a large number families of Internally Displaced Muslims, the victims of 2002 communal carnage, live in rehabilitation colonies built by NGOs as they have not been allowed to return to their villages by their tormentors enjoying state patronage. Under the impact of consequent public outcry, the US government cancelled his visa in March 2005 and his planned trip to London, as recently as in May 2009, for the “India Summit 2009” had to be dropped. Unquote Let me just add here that even the Prime Minister of the country, at the time of the pogrom, has on record castigated Mr. Modi. He happens to be from his own party, and still. And as regards his "denial" (as claimed by you), in a live TV interview, as recently as in late 2007, while confronted with the question whether he regrets what had happened in February-March 2002, instead of taking the opportunity to publicly express regret he obstinately refused and rather elected to walk out in full public view. (You may yourself look up the video clipping at <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP1QFcvIg9c>, if you bother to.) That's as far his “denial” goes! So let me finally remind you that as far as Mr. Modi is concerned various processes are in motion to take care of his enormous crimes. By choosing to ignore the very credible charges of humongous crimes against Mr. Modi, you are putting yourself and the body/institution conferring the subject award on trial. You would be committing an act of gross moral crime of endorsing Mr. Modi's crimes against humanity if you don't reverse your decision. The allegations are too serious. Too many entities, including the international human rights bodies and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India, enjoying high credibility levels, have made these charges. Even the US administration had to act upon by cancelling his visa. Under such circumstances, Mr. Modi cannot legitimately claim any benefit of doubt as regards the “award”. And you'll be guilty of being complicit in his crimes by obstinately ignoring all these. Please do rethink before it is too late. Yours sincerely, Sukla Sen EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity), Mumbai, India On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 5:33 AM, Najid Hussain <[email protected]>wrote: > > > > > --- On Tue, 9/1/09, Najid Hussain <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: Najid Hussain <[email protected]> > > Subject: Re: > > To: [email protected] > > Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009, 4:53 PM > > Thank you Ms. Fingar for your > > response and the decision to give the award to Gujarat State > > and not its Chief Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi. > > > > It is said that we learn from history that we don't learn > > anything from history. After Hitler, we collectively pledged > > - "no more Hitler". After Pol Pot, we said no more Pol Pot. > > But we still kept seeing the likes of Milosevic, > > Saddam Hussein, and Narendra Modi. Interestingly, none of > > these ever accepted they did anything wrong. > > > > One of the reasons why we are unable to stop the "Hitlers" > > of our times is our communities' narrowly defined economic > > interests that lead us to ignore, tolerate, or even > > sanction, some human rights' violations. > > > > While I do appreciate your compassion for those killed in > > Gujarat under Mr. Modi, by denying him the award, I am > > afraid, Mr. Modi will find ways to use your unconditional > > award to Gujarat to his advantage. Your award may eventually > > help him wipe off the blood of the innocents from his hands > > and find political restitution. > > > > In giving your award to Gujarat, I earnestly hope you will > > insert appropriate words of caution to ensure that does not > > happen. > > > > Best wishes and regards, > > > > Najid Hussain > > > > > > Dr. Najid Hussain > > (302) 834-5426 > > > > > > --- On Tue, 9/1/09, [email protected] > > <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > From: [email protected] > > <[email protected]> > > > Subject: > > > To: [email protected] > > > Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009, 3:03 PM > > > > > > Thank you for your email and for sharing your views > > with > > > us -- please know that they have been taken > > onboard. > > > > > > > > > > > > Following a review prompted by the ongoing > > investigation > > > into the 2002 Gujarat riots, fDi has decided to > > present its > > > award to Gujarat state, rather than Mr Narendra Modi, > > the > > > state's chief minister. > > > > > > > > > > > > fDi would like to clarify that the criteria of the > > award > > > has always remained focused on rewarding the success > > of a > > > region in attracting foreign investment. > > > > > > > > > > > > The award is in recognition of Gujarat state’s > > ability to > > > attract an outstanding volume of inward foreign > > investment. > > > Gujarat increased that volume by more than 50% over > > the past > > > year for a total of 10.3% of all foreign investment > > into > > > India. > > > > > > > > > > > > Mr Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time of > > the > > > riots. Mr Modi’s alleged role in connection to the > > riots > > > is under investigation but he denies any > > responsibility. > > > > > > > > > > > > fDi has also decided to highlight the geographic > > regions of > > > all the other winners. The magazine is keen to > > maintain its > > > primary focus on reporting on the effectiveness of > > different > > > economic regions and rewarding innovative and > > effective > > > promotional strategies. > > > > > > > > > > > > Courtney > > > Fingar > > > > > > Editor > > > > > > fDi - Foreign Direct Investment > > > > > > Financial Times Business > > > > > > www.fdimagazine.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ********************************************************************************** > > > > > > This email was sent by a company owned by Pearson > > plc, > > > registered office at 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL. > > > > > > Registered in England and Wales with company number > > > 53723 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
