Is Preet
Bharara following the letter of law in true spirit or is he trying to prove a
point to the US masters that he spares no Indian? Preet is an American of
Indian origin, hailing from Punjab, who guns for Indians in US and now became a
household name with L’affaire Devyani Khobargade, the Indian diplomat.
Preet Bharara
has prosecuted several Indians. He states: ‘We go after crime with a vengeance in
a fair and appropriate way. It does not matter what their religion, race,
nationality or name is.’ He has now charged India’s deputy Consul general in
New York, Devyani Khobragade, with a visa fraud and exploiting the housekeeper.
She was handcuffed, stripped, cavity searches conducted, DNA swabs taken,
locked up with common criminals and drug addicts. Diplomatic immunity gives
protection even in grave crimes. Consular immunity doesn’t. But if action is
taken against Consular officer, it has to be done with due respect by reason of
official position. This was flouted by the US.
Preet has a
list of eminent Indians he has cracked down upon. His crackdown on insider
trading resulted in a two-year jail sentence for ex-Mckinsey chief Rajat Gupta.
Anil Kumar, also of McKinsey, and ex-intel Capital executive Rajiv Goel pleaded
guilty in the same case. Preet Bharara also made former internet analyst
Sandeep Agarwal plead guilty to providing inside information about a deal
between Microsoft and Yahoo to a portfolio manager.
In a rare
display of aggression, Indian government has hit back at US for humiliating the
diplomat Devyani Khobragade. The government cancelled a host of privileges
enjoyed by the American diplomatic and consular staff and cut security. This
tit for tat response has made the ties between the world’s two largest
democracies turn frosty. India has finally shown spine by a slew of retaliatory
measures against the US. This was in
sharp contrast to its weak-kneed response to previous slights by the US – patting
down of the former President Abdul Kalam twice on the same day during his visit
to US and in India. He was frisked at New York’s JFK airport. In 2009, was
frisked by staff of Continental Airlines at New Delhi airport.
Similar
treatment was meted out to former central minister George Fernandes; George
Fernandes was strip-searched twice in Dulles Airport when he was defence minister.
Later US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage apologized. In 2009 actor
John Abraham was detained at New York airport by FBI for having Afghanistan as
a country visited on his passport. In September 2010, then Union Minister for
Civil Aviation Praful Patel detained at a US airport over mistaken identity. A
person with same name, date of birth was on US immigration watch list. In 2011,
former Indian ambassador to the US, Meera Shankar was detained, body-searched
by security officials at Jackson-Evers International Airport in Missisippi.
India’s permanent Representative to UN Hardeep Puri was subjected to pat-down
at Houston Airport in 2010 after Puri refused to take off his turban. Puri was
then made to wait in the holding room. And the latest being the response to the
phone tapping by the Americans of the Indian mission in Washington.
In August 2009,
actor Shah Rukh Khan was detained for two hours at New jersey’s Newark
International Airport, reportedly over his surname. Khan said, incident
uncalled for and humiliating. Detained again in April 2012 at New York airport
for hour-and-a-half. US embassy spokesman later apologized to him. Aamir Khan
was strip searched and interrogated at Chicago airport when he visited the US
in 2002. It appears there is a method to this madness. India has finally taken
on arrogant America. This has been the strongest Indian action against US in
years. Yes we want friendly bi-lateral relations with US, but with dignity, not
at their terms. India is no banana republic.
Immediate was necessary
or else other countries too might act in similar arrogance. There are instances
of immigration staff in some European and Gulf countries acting rude with
Indian tourists and visitors. A strong message need to be sent that their
citizens could face the same treatment here with a pat-down from CISF
personnel. Then they will realize what a pat-down or frisking means when their
citizens are subjected to it.
* To be here or to communicate: aneelanike@gmail.com
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