Posted on 03/19/2005 9:09:08 AM PST by nypokerface
AHMADABAD, India - Hindu nationalists set fire to a PepsiCo warehouse in western India on Saturday to protest the U.S. denial of a visa for a top state official due to his role in religious riots in 2002.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked the U.S. government to urgently reconsider its decision.
The State Department said Friday it had denied a diplomatic visa to the Hindu nationalist chief minister of Gujarat state, Narendra Modi, and revoked his existing tourist/business visa under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act that bars people responsible for violations of religious freedom from getting a visa.
Nearly 150 activists barged into the warehouse of U.S.-based PepsiCo in the western city of Surat, smashed bottles and set fire to the place, said Dharmesh Joshi, a witness. Police confirmed the attack.
The warehouse was partially burned. The demonstrators were from the Bajrang Dal, a group affiliated with Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which governs Gujarat state.
The State Department had no immediate comment, spokesman Noel Clay said Saturday in Washington.
A witness said about a dozen workers at the warehouse fled during the attack and firefighters doused the flames.
The protesters also ransacked a nearby PepsiCo office and demonstrated outside the American consulate in Bombay. PepsiCo representatives could not be reached for comment.
Some carried placards reading: "Down with the United States," "Boycott the U.S. goods and the Americans."
The attacks came despite a tightening of security in western India where Hindu nationalists have a strong presence, to prevent retaliation to the U.S. decision.
The State Department said Modi was denied a visa in response to a finding by India's National Human Rights Commission that held his state government responsible for the 2002 Hindu-Muslim violence in the state, India's worst in a decade.
Human rights groups have accused the state government of doing little to stop the violence that killed 1,000 people, most of them Muslims.
Up to 150 Bajrang Dal activists also tried to enter the U.S. visa application center in Ahmadabad, the main Gujarat city but were turned back by police.
The Indian prime minister said the U.S. government had been clearly told of his nation's concern at the visa denial.
"We have also called for the urgent reconsideration of decision by the U.S. government," Singh said in a statement in India's parliament.
The decision, he said, showed a lack of sensitivity and courtesy to an elected authority.
Modi, who had been scheduled to address an association of motel owners in New York and to meet with Indians living in several U.S. cities, has called the decision an insult to India.
In Ahmadabad, Suleiman Shaikh, a Muslim who had lost his wife and two children in the 2002 rioting, welcomed the decision.
"While the Indian judiciary system is yet to prosecute Modi and his men responsible for the killing of innocent Muslims, the U.S. decision comes as an indication of how Modi was being dealt with internationally," Shaikh told The Associated Press.
Both brutally kill Christians, so there is not really much to pick between them.
This isn't the best course to get his visa back.
These pigs don't even represent 5% of Hindus & are the ones who brought great shame to that religion.If you want to know where they get their funds from,look closer to home-these guys have a substantial following in the US,UK & Canada among other places.They run a "welfare agenda" on the one hand & beat up,if not kill Muslims,Christians among others.
Modi,along with the VHP was praised by some folks on here as being conservatives for slaughtering Muslims-guess this post will restore a sense of reality.
You are right, unless the person who denied said visa is a real, die-hard Coco Cola fan.
The same could be said of many "pigs...(who) don't even represent 5%" of ANY religion or country.
That doesn't stop US from bashing all Muslims, Arabs and middle easters....en masse for the actions of 5%. That is simply human nature, don't you think?
It's faulty logic, based on emotions, but that also is human nature, I think.
My 2 cents.
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Gee....why don't we issue these Violent, property destroyers, and mob mentality thugs visas...where is the justice (said with much sarcasm)
Does the US bash all Muslims or Arabs?????Don't think so, given the relationship they have with the Saudis & Pakistanis.
These pigs don't even represent 5% of Hindus & are the ones who brought great shame to that religion.If you want to know where they get their funds from,look closer to home-these guys have a substantial following in the US,UK & Canada among other places.They run a "welfare agenda" on the one hand & beat up,if not kill Muslims,Christians among others.There's not much difference between these thugs and the RSS, which had substantial influence when the BJP was in power. Like the Islamists, their numbers within the faith are small but their influence is exaggerated.
-Eric
No kidding. It reminds me of those guys who sewed either their mouths or eyes shut to protest not being allowed to immigrate to Australia.
Nothing like showing that you are a loony to make them put out the welcome mat.
do I really need to put a sarcasm tag on that last bit? Nah.
Show me an article about the middle east, Muslims, Arabs or the Saudis where it DOESN'T happen. Lol. Just one.
The RSS is the mother organisation-the VHP is it's international arm cum heavy duty brigade & the BJP is it's political arm.You really can't understand one member of this "family" without understanding the others.Most people in India had little solid idea of the VHP till the early 1990s when the Babri Masjid agitation became & their visibility on national television increased manifold after the BJP led coalition came to power.
Where what doesn't happen???My comment was about America's official relationship with countries like Saudi Arabia & Pakistan,which is still strong,despite the virulent anti-American rhetoric in those nations.
One has a false god. The other, many false gods.
If you put on a sarcasm tag you would be redundant, really, repeatedly over-redundant.
Harhar.
Harhar is also a "cue bid."
Duh -- another one.
Ya think? -- another one.
The question is -- Did those guys KEEP their mouths sewn shut?
One would only hope. No sarcasm intended.
Look up "middle east, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Muslims" or any such thread and read for youself.
If you think there is no or little Arab/Muslim/Saudi/middle east bashing then you simply haven't been doing much reading on this site.
I happen to agree with you, by the way. Americans (civilians--petroleum industry) have been in Saudi Arabia and doing business with them since 1932. ARAMCO has been around that long. It's Saudi Aramco now, but relations are still strong and will always be, officially, because we NEED their petroleum. It's a symbiotic relationship that has worked for 72 years.
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