The Wharton India Economic Forum is organised by an “autonomous” students’ body at the University of Pennsylvania, said an organising-team member. They start preparations for the Forum from August, with the confirmations of participants trickling in from January.
He explained that when the organising team had been looking at a number of contenders, including ministers Pallam Raju and Shashi Tharoor. “But, we found that there was a scheduling conflict due to the Budget session, because of which ministers could not fly in,” he said.
“We had chosen Mr Modi for his economic work and development that he has done in Gujarat, not looking at his political work,” he told Express.
Aware that Modi would not get a US visa, the organisers knew too from the start that it would be a video-conference speech. Modi’s office had confirmed that he was available for the address on March 23. But, the organisers felt they would have to pull the plug. “We really felt that the Indian media sensationalised it…. We are really disappointed,” he said. The matter, he said, snowballed only in the last three-four days, especially after it was reported by an English news channel, which led to a petition by some faculty members. The organisers announced the cancellation of Modi’s speech in a press note on Sunday, stating that as a “responsible student body within the University of Pennsylvania, we must consider the impact on multiple stakeholders in our ecosystem. Our team felt that the polarising reactions from sub-segments of the alumni base, student body, and our supporters, might put Mr Modi in a compromising position, which we would like to avoid at all costs, especially in the spirit of our conference’s purpose,” said the statement.
It added they might organise an interaction with Modi at a “more appropriate forum where he can interact with students without the distraction of this kind of attention”.
About the reported move to have Aam Admi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal to fill in Modi’s place, the organiser didn’t comment. But he admitted that the organisers had approached Kejriwal in December. The other keynote speakers lined up at Wharton are Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia (via video link) and Minister of State for Information Technology Milind Deora.
Besides, there are Atul Nishar, chairman of Hexaware Technologies and US-India Business Council president Ron Somers. For the media and entertainment panel, Bollywood bigwigs Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar have been invited.