--- Gabe Menezes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/mar/23guest11.htm > > Religiously against Modi > March 23, 2005 > > Visas, or rather their revocation, make strange bedfellows. A week ago, one would have said Ram Guha, anthropologist and historian, had little in common with Narendra Modi apart from the usual complement of four limbs, a mouth and two eyes. > Mario replies: Gabe, You, and the author of this article, have entirely too much time on your hands. You had to know that this was not an honest report but an opportunity for both of you to take a cheap shot at the US, "It's an odd way for a nation that sanctimoniously trumpets its commitment to the rule of law to behave." This about a country that has an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants wandering around, many protected by the US "rule of law" and due to the acceptance of foreigners by most Americans.
Neither you, nor the author have any idea why Ram Guha's visa was denied. The authors explanation is patently absurd, that a US Immigration official "refused to believe that a Third World academic would be invited and paid a generous honorarium to deliver lectures by an American university." This makes no sense at all in the context of all the Indians and other Third World academics swarming around the US. Every US Immigration official is well aware that Third World academics, whether scruffy or not, are coming into the US in droves, every day of the week, on every single flight. Highlighting further how ridiculous and lame the author's explanation is is the fact that all Ram Guha had to do was make a phone call to the sponsors who invited him and they would have clarified what may have been incomplete or questionable paperwork regarding the reason for his visit. There are endless legal ways in the US Immigration laws for someone like Guha, had his case been genuine, to appeal, clarify and overcome any misunderstanding, which renders this article totally bogus.