House must probe the anti-Modi missive
There is clearly more to the anti-Modi letter which some Members of Parliament have supposedly addressed to the US President than meets the eye. The missive, apparently the brainchild of an independent Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, has called upon Mr Barack Obama to deny Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi a visa to visit the US anytime in the future. As it turns out, there appears to be some fraud involved, because a number of MPs whose signatures are found in the letter have denied ever signing such a note. One of them, Mr Sitaram Yechury, even alleged that his signature on the letter appeared to be a “cut and paste” job — meaning that his signature could have been lifted from another piece of document and affixed on this infamous letter. With many supposed signatories backing out and the Independent MP sticking to his claim that they had indeed signed the letter, the issue stinks and deserves to be thoroughly probed. Since the matter involves Members of Parliament, both the Speaker of the lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha must initiate a House inquiry into the murky affair. If the probe throws up a prima facie case of wrongdoing, as many suspect it to be, the police must step in and the law should be allowed to take its course. Meanwhile, the Congress has been behaving in a strangely ambivalent manner on the episode. Instead of taking a strong stand on the alleged forgery, the party's leaders have distanced themselves from the affair and are sitting on the sidelines, watching the issue unfold. Obviously, they do not wish to dilute the so-called embarrassment that the discredited letter has caused to Mr Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party. That's engaging in cheap politics. But the more they remain vague on the matter, the more the impression will gain ground that they have had a role to play in the execution of the disgraceful act, or at least they knew of the act and did nothing to prevent it.
let us for a moment leave aside the questionable credibility of the letter itself. While political detractors of Mr Modi have the right to vent their opposition to him, there are limits to which they should go in their mission. The very act of petitioning the head of a foreign regime against a democratically elected Chief Minister of the country is condemnable. Mr Modi's critics can fight him politically at home; they can move the courts against him on allegations that they believe are true. But by seeking the intervention of a foreign head of state in their domestic political battles, they are making a mockery of the very democratic institutions of which they are the beneficiaries. Through their dubious letter, the MPs have sought to subordinate Parliament to the White House. It is amazing that these MPs should have allowed their bilious hatred for Mr Modi to lead them to this most ridiculous act which has shamed the country. That they should have released the letter to the media now to coincide it with the visit of BJP president Rajnath Singh to that country, demonstrates the sordid politics at play. It is for the US Administration to decide whether it should give a visa to Mr Modi. It is entirely unbecoming of a free country and its elected representatives to formally petition the US President on such matters, and moreso through a dubiously-crafted letter.