Delhi; 31 Oct 2019 (UMM): Two well-placed government sources have revealed that the “private” visit of 24 right-wing EU MPs to Kashmir was planned by the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval with the blessings of PM Narendra Modi.
A BJP leader admitted, that the primary purpose of the visit was not to convince the international community, as much as to give the BJP’s domestic audience the impression that foreign leaders supported Prime Minister Modi’s decisions on Kashmir, and this was the first of several other proposed visits by personalities sympathetic to BJP/RSS approach.
According to HUFFPOST , at the surface, the visit was orchestrated to look like it was organised by a private British citizen called Madi Sharma, founder of the Women’s Economic and Social Think Tank (WESTT), and supposedly paid for by another Indian think tank called the International Institute of Non-Aligned Studies, based on an invitation sent to British politician Chris Davies.
In reality however, Indian officials said the visit was a carefully choreographed junket to push back against the international community’s negative reception of PM Modi’s decision to scrap Article 370, arrest large numbers of civilians including several prominent politicians, and continued lock down of the state for about 3 months.
Indian government’s decision to use Madi Sharma and her NGO — who clearly stated she was organising a “prestigious VIP meeting with the Prime Minister of India” in her email to EU parliamentarians — suggests much of the outreach was handled by Ajit Doval and the Prime Minister’s Office, reported HUFFPOST.
The purpose of this delegation, was to cultivate voices to “shout back” at critics of the Modi government’s Kashmir policy. The fact that some of these voices belonged to xenophobic, Islamophic and anti-Semitic European politicians, a source in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party told HUFFPOST, was largely irrelevant.
Amongst the 24 MEPs, were representatives of the UK’s Brexit Party, France’s National Rally, Poland’s far-right The Law and Justice (PiS) party, and representatives of Italy’s Lega Nord. The Italian delegation also has representatives from Forza Italia and the social-democrat Democratic party.
Senior BJP leaders appeared unconcerned that courting such controversial supporters could chip away at India’s image — carefully crafted over decades of diplomacy — as a pluralistic, diverse, democracy.
In a press note shared with HuffPost India, the office of Chris Davies of the UK’s Liberal Democrats said he had initially agreed to come, but his invitation was rescinded when he insisted he be accompanied by independent journalists.
“From the very first moment the visit sounded to me like a PR stunt intended to bolster Narendra Modi,” Davies said in the statement circulated by his office. “I think the actions of the government of India in Kashmir are betraying the best principles of a great democracy, and I believe the less notice that the rest of the world pays to the situation the more pleased they will be.”
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