Indian diplomat in Chicago accused of 'divide and rule' policy
Wednesday, 19 August 2009, 01:12 IST
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Chicago: Simmering tensions between members of the Indian American community in Chicago and Indian Consul General Ashok Kumar Attri have come out in the open with prominent community members accusing the diplomat of dividing the community. Matters came to a head at the India Independence Day celebrations where the consul general was conspicuous by his absence. Neither did any consulate staff attend the parade on Devon Avenue, the heart of Chicago's Indian district, nor the banquet the previous day. The parade, which is attended by thousands of Indian Americans from Chicago and the neighbouring Midwestern states, is the highlight of the Indian Independence Day celebrations for Chicago's Indian American community. The Indian consul general has always been the guest of honour, alongwith members of the US Senate or Congress and lawmakers from the state of Illinois. Hyder Mohammed, president of the Federation of Indian Organizations (FIA), the umbrella body of Indian community organisations in the Chicago area, said that the FIA had not extended an official invitation to Attri to attend the festivities, in protest against his consistent "insulting" behaviour. "The FIA has never been invited for any event organised by the consulate. When Attri took over (as consul general) the entire board of the FIA met with him, introduced ourselves to him and welcomed him to the city. But he has never invited the organisation to any event. As a representative of the government of India, his job is to serve the Indian community. It is very unfortunate that instead, he adopts this policy of divide and rule," Mohammed, a physician turned businessman, told IANS. Attri's rift with the community goes back a couple of years. Soon after he took over as the consul general in Chicago in 2007, Attri was invited to attend the Indian Independence Day festivities in Rolling Meadows, a Chicago suburb. Community leaders say they resented that he chose instead to attend another event organised by the Asian American Coalition. "The host country for that event was Pakistan," said Iftekhar Shareef, a former FIA president, and one of the few Indian American community leaders to remain untainted by the scandals swirling around deposed Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. "The Indian Independence Day event was held a bare 10 minute drive from the Asian American Coalition dinner," Shareef told IANS. "Many American politicians attended both events. How can the Indian consul general, with a good conscience, attend an event hosted by the Pakistani community and skip entirely the Indian Independence Day event? He could have come for 10 minutes at least." Attri did not respond to a request from IANS for comment. Meanwhile, investigations against prominent Indian American community leaders in connection with the corruption charges against Blagojevich had its impact on Independence Day festivities this year. As some had predicted, only a handful of American politicians attended. In the past, the parade and banquet were attended by at least a couple of US congressmen, senators or members of the Illinois Senate. Past participants in the parade have included Barack Obama, then a US senator. Although Pat Quinn, Blagojevich's successor, who has a stellar reputation as an honest politician, attended the parade this year, the rest of the VIP guests comprised mostly local aldermen (the American equivalent of the municipal corporator). Many community leaders rued that this was due to the image of the Indian community in Illinois as wheeler dealers. None of the Indian Americans being investigated in connection with Blagojevich scandals have been convicted or even charged of any crime. But nevertheless, the community's fall from the "model community" could be attributed to the fact that more often than not, in politics, perception trumps reality, said community old-timers.
Source: IANS
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