Author Topic: US ambassador to India Nancy Powell resigns  (Read 622 times)

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Offline flowers

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US ambassador to India Nancy Powell resigns
« on: March 31, 2014, 05:37:27 pm »
http://indianexpress.com/article/world/americas/us-ambassador-to-india-nancy-powell-resigns/

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In a sudden development, US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell on Monday resigned in the midst of general elections in India in which Narendra Modi is perceived to be a front runner for the post of Prime Minister.

The announcement of her resignation to her colleagues in the US mission here today came a week after media reports here that she may be shipped out by the Obama Administration to “clean the state” with India. Powell has been in India for less than three years.

“US Ambassador to India Nancy J Powell announced in a US Mission Town Hall meeting March 31 that she has submitted her resignation to President Obama and, as planned for some time, will retire to her home in Delaware before the end of May,” an announcement in the US Embassy website said tonight.

Embassy sources did not want to hazard a guess on the decision of the 67-year-old career service officer to quit her post and return home at a time when India is in an election process and Washington is also deeply interested in its outcome.

There was media speculation a week ago that Powell would be replaced with a political appointee as an attempt by the Obama administration to “clean the state” with India.

The report had said Powell had dragged her heels on meeting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and was perceived as being “too close” to the UPA’s foreign policy establishment.
 
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However, when Washington decided to warm upto Modi, who is perceived as one of the front runners for the prime minister’s post, Powell met Modi on February 13, ending a nine-year-old boycott of the Gujarat leader on the issue of 2002 post-Godhra riots.

The US move marked a u-turn in its earlier stand of having nothing to do with Modi, whose visa it cancelled in 2005 under a domestic law on the issue of “severe violations of religious freedom”. Ever since it had refused to review its policy.

Earlier, the EU and Britain had also ended their boycott of Modi and warmed up to him in the run up to the polls.


Oceander

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Re: US ambassador to India Nancy Powell resigns
« Reply #1 on: March 31, 2014, 05:41:15 pm »
curious.  any speculation in the Indian media?

Offline flowers

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Re: US ambassador to India Nancy Powell resigns
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2014, 05:47:18 pm »
curious.  any speculation in the Indian media?
\I have been looking around and haven't found out the real reason yet. If I do I will post here.


Offline flowers

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Re: US ambassador to India Nancy Powell resigns
« Reply #3 on: March 31, 2014, 05:51:54 pm »
If Modi becomes PM, US visa ban will automatically be lifted: Report



http://www.firstpost.com/politics/if-modi-becomes-pm-us-visa-ban-will-automatically-be-lifted-report-1459605.html

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Washington: The nine-year US visa ban on Narendra Modi will automatically be lifted and he would enjoy diplomatic immunity if he becomes the prime minister, a Congressional report said today. "Modi is widely considered to be one of the front-runners as prime ministerial candidate of his Bharatiya Janata Party. If Narendra Modi were to become Prime Minister of India, he would automatically be eligible for an A-1 (diplomatic) visa as head of state, regardless of the purpose of his visit," the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in its communication to US lawmakers. AP AP In 2005, the US had denied visa to Modi in the wake of the 2002 Gujarat riots and has since not revoked its decision. The seven-page report 'Visa Policy: the case of Narendra Modi' was prepared by the CRS — an independent and bipartisan wing of the US Congress — at the request of several lawmakers, most who have been opposed to a US visa to Modi. The views and reports of the CRS are meant to keep the lawmakers informed and is non-binding either on the Congress or the US Government. Led Congressmen Republican Joe Pitts and Democrat Keith Ellison lawmaker had asked a set of five questions on the prospects of US






Offline flowers

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Re: US ambassador to India Nancy Powell resigns
« Reply #4 on: March 31, 2014, 05:57:17 pm »
curious.  any speculation in the Indian media?
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A direct fallout of the US establishments' refusal to acknowledge the return of the Indian right and its cussed refusal to not grant a visa to the PM front-runner Mr Narendra Modi, even as the UK, Australia and EU were re-establishing contacts broken off by following the US's cue in 2005.

Mr Modi has been insulted by the State Dept's gratuitous announcements that he would not be given a Visa even though he had never applied for one. Mr Modi does not forget easily and though American businesses are welcomed warmly in Gujarat (the state of which he is curently the Chief Minister), the official relationship is likely to be formal. In contrast, the Chinese laid out the red carpet for him on his visits there and so did the Japanese, with the Singapore PM some kind of mentor. The Israelis are also old friends and collaborators, having supplied desert farming techniques to Gujarat and hosting him more than once.

In contrast, the liberals in the US ganged up to insult him and last year, lefties at Wharton even managed to get a video address from him on the Indian economy cancelled.
  found this info


Oceander

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Re: US ambassador to India Nancy Powell resigns
« Reply #5 on: March 31, 2014, 05:59:13 pm »
  found this info


Even more interesting, although I'm not sure why that would cause an ambassador to resign - unless she was implicated in the visa denial (which is possible; a visa for a national figure probably has to be personally approved by the ambassador).