Revoke, apologize for "unceremonious" deportation of ex-Swiss diplomat from India: Sushma Swaraj told

Kurt Vögele

By Our Representative
Forty-five civil rights leaders, academics and professionals have asked India’s foreign minister Sushma Swaraj to immediately revoke what they call “unceremonious” deportation of veteran ex-Swiss diplomat and an old India hand, Kurt Vögele, from the Ahmedabad airport on January 22, seeking an apology from the government for the “unreasonable” treatment meted out to him.
In a letter, posted to Swaraj on Tuesday, they have said that the “damage” caused by the action to the country’s image abroad could be repaired only by the “gracious gesture” to invite Vögele to visit India in “early future.”
The letter quotes media reports suggesting his friendship with colleagues in the Navsarjan Trust, a Dalit rights NGO, denied Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) license in December 2016, was perhaps the reason why he was denied entry into India.
Suggesting this was a spurious excuse, the letter insists, “In all our democratic country and under our Constitution this can surely be no grounds for deportation. The Trust was denied a renewal of its FCRA licence in December 2016. If this were a reason, it would be a breach of the right to free association and also amount to victimization of the Trust.”
The letter has been signed, among others, by Greenpeace India CEO Aakar Patel, National Foundation for India executive director Amitabh Behar, Dalit rights activist Martin Macwan, Janvikas chairperson Gagan Sethi, former National Institute of Design director Ashoke Chatterjee, danseuse Dr Mallika Sarabhai, former Planning Commission member Dr Syeda Hameed, and North Eastern Social Research Centre director Dr Walter Fernandes.
The letter reminds Swaraj that Vögele was told he had “no right” to enter India, even though he had a valid visa, issued by the Indian consulate in Geneva only in December 2017. It adds, “During his hours of waiting in limbo at the airport, Vögele was denied the use of a phone and not allowed to inform friends who had come to receive him about his situation.”
It adds, “His passport was confiscated and returned to him only on return to Geneva. You can imagine the shock, apprehension and anxiety of a 75 year old man at being so undeservedly isolated and stripped of his right of entry.”
Pointing that “a person of Vögele’s age and stature had to face humiliation is difficult to comprehend”, the letter says, the ex-Swiss diplomat has been serving with the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC), a Swiss Foreign Ministry arm, is “a consistent and valued friend of India for over 40 years.”
“His 13 years in India were spent in the main serving as Country Director of the SDC which is an arm of the Swiss Foreign Ministry”, the letter says, adding, “He has also spent several years in charge of the Asia Division of SDC in Berne, before his last spell as Country Director (Counsellor) in the Swiss Embassy in Delhi, from 2000 to 2005.”
A person who has worked, among others with MS Swaminathan, former director-general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, partnered with the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), NABARD, and was instrumental in assisting the 2001 Kutch earthquake, Vögele in a protest memo to the Indian ambassador in Switzerland said his reasons for coming to Ahmedabad to meet “old and profoundly cherished friends”, even as “working and exchanging with them on themes of Human and Institutional Development.”

Comments

Sagar Rabari said…

This is very serious, government of the day cannot convenient stand regarding people's connections with grass roots institutions like Navsarjan.

February 21, 2018

Right-arm fast bowler who helped West Indies shape arguably greatest Test team in cricket history

By Harsh Thakor* Malcolm Marshall redefined what it meant to be a right-arm fast bowler, challenging the traditional laws of biomechanics with his unique skill. As we remember his 25th death anniversary on November 4th, we reflect on the legacy he left behind after his untimely death from colon cancer. For a significant part of his career, Marshall was considered one of the fastest and most formidable bowlers in the world, helping to shape the West Indies into arguably the greatest Test team in cricket history.

Andhra team joins Gandhians to protest against 'bulldozer action' in Varanasi

By Rosamma Thomas* November 1 marked the 52nd day of the 100-day relay fast at the satyagraha site of Rajghat in Varanasi, seeking the restoration of the 12 acres of land to the Sarva Seva Sangh, the Gandhian organization that was evicted from the banks of the river. Twelve buildings were demolished as the site was abruptly taken over by the government after “bulldozer” action in August 2023, even as the matter was pending in court.

Outreach programme in medical education: Band-aids for compound fractures

By Amitav Banerjee, MD* Recently, the National Medical Commission (NMC) of India, introduced two curricular changes in medical education, both at the undergraduate and the postgraduate levels, ostensibly to offer opportunities for quality medical education and to improve health care accessibility among the underserved rural and urban population.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Will Left victory in Sri Lanka deliver economic sovereignty plan, go beyond 'tired' IMF agenda?

By Atul Chandra, Vijay Prashad* On September 22, 2024, the Sri Lankan election authority announced that Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) alliance won the presidential election. Dissanayake, who has been the leader of the left-wing JVP since 2014, defeated 37 other candidates, including the incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP) and his closest challenger Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.

Will Bangladesh go Egypt way, where military ruler is in power for a decade?

By Vijay Prashad* The day after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka, I was on the phone with a friend who had spent some time on the streets that day. He told me about the atmosphere in Dhaka, how people with little previous political experience had joined in the large protests alongside the students—who seemed to be leading the agitation. I asked him about the political infrastructure of the students and about their political orientation. He said that the protests seemed well-organized and that the students had escalated their demands from an end to certain quotas for government jobs to an end to the government of Sheikh Hasina. Even hours before she left the country, it did not seem that this would be the outcome.

Are Kashmir's porous borders turning region into 'convenient entry point' for drugs flowing into India?

By Raqif Makhdoomi* Drug addiction has become a serious problem, affecting not only Kashmir but communities worldwide. In the shadowy world of drug trafficking, vast networks and powerful organizations play pivotal roles. These criminal enterprises, often bolstered by influential backers, operate with impunity, profiting from human suffering. For those able to evade law enforcement, drug trafficking can lead to staggering wealth; even at a local level, small-time peddlers can earn substantial sums. Despite international efforts to curb this menace, the drug syndicate is highly complex, eluding even the most determined governmental crackdowns due to its global reach and the powerful networks that support it.

How Hindu festivals are being 'misused' to incite violence and hatred

By Ram Puniyani* Communal violence has long plagued Indian society, intensifying over the past decades. In pre-colonial times, such conflicts were rare and mostly ethnic, but under British rule, communal violence took root as a more frequent occurrence. The British promoted a divisive view of history, interpreting events through the religious identities of rulers, which fueled the rise of communal ideologies in both Hindu and Muslim communities. These narratives fostered a "social common sense" that exploited religion to incite conflict. Over the last 30 years, scholars, journalists, and researchers have worked to understand how communal groups have found new ways to instigate violence, particularly targeting the majority Hindu community.

Search This Blog