DELHI DIARY, JANUARY 20-23, 2009

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SUBJECT: DELHI DIARY, JANUARY 20-23, 2009


1. (U) Below is a compilation of political highlights
from Embassy New Delhi for January 20-23, 2009, that did
not feature in our other reporting, including:

-- Dalai Lama Asks Delhi to Choose Dialogue, Promote
Tolerance
-- Former BJP Parliamentarians Join Congress in Karnataka
-- CPM Suspends Unlikely Communist Muslim Modi Fan
-- "BJP Candidate" Wins India Islamic Cultural Center
Presidency
-- Kashmiri Pandit's Mark "Holocaust Day"

Dalai Lama Asks Delhi to Choose Dialogue, Promote Tolerance
---


2. (SBU) The Dalai Lama delivered several talks focused on
nonviolence and religious tolerance January 16-18 in New
Delhi. In his Madhavrao Scindia Memorial lecture on
"Nonviolence as a Strategic Tool," his audience included
Delhi's political elite, including Congress Party
heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Vadra,
Home Minister Chidambaram, his predecessor, Shivraj Patil,
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, and Election
Commissioner Navin Chawla. As tensions simmer between India
and Pakistan, the Dalai Lama wove a subtle theme of the
importance of nonviolence without directly mentioning the
regional conflict. He noted that "dialogue is needed most"
when two parties have reached the "absolute brink."


3. (U) The Dalai Lama underlined the historical tradition
of religious tolerance and respect in India. He argued that
India, the birthplace and/or home to many of the world's
great religions, has exported religious tolerance to the
world. Without referring to last year's violence in Orissa
and Karnataka, the Dalai Lama suggested that recently India
has failed to foster religious tolerance within its borders
and questioned the causes of this failure. He suggested
India should maximize its cultural heritage of ahimsa
(nonviolence) and compassion at home and abroad. In a speech
at the India Islamic Cultural Centre, the Dalai Lama also
advocated India's concept of secularism, which does not
preclude religion or define secularism in purely
non-religious terms.


4. (U) Responding to a question on the use of nonviolence
and compassion in combating terrorism, the Dalai Lama
admitted these tools can only be effective to a point as once
an individual reaches such an extreme (i.e. becomes a
terrorist),he is "already gone." He advised India to up
focus on education as the best means for preventing
extremism, adding that" textbooks should teach non-violence
and peace, morals without touching religion, and the concept
of compromise."


5. (SBU) Comment: The Dalai Lama cleverly and deftly
delivered several tough messages to Indian politicians,
academics, and others, using his trademark tools of
self-deprecation and humor. Given his spiritual standing and
excellent relationship with the GOI, these messages are much
better received. End Comment.

Former BJP Parliamentarians Join Congress in Karnataka
---


6. (SBU) Three former BJP members of parliament (MPs) from
Karnataka joined the Congress Party on January 20. All three
defied the BJP party whip in July 2008 and voted in support
of the U.S.-India civil nuclear agreement. The BJP then
kicked them out of the party and, under Indian parliamentary
procedure, they lost their seats in parliament. The highest
profile of the three, H.T. Sangliana, is a former police
chief of Bangalore and a Christian. He became disillusioned
with the BJP in Karnataka when it failed to appoint any
religious minorities to prominent posts when the party won

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the May 2008 state legislative assembly elections.


7. (SBU) While the addition of the three former MPs helps
the Congress Party in some ways, it may also cause additional
complications for the already-divided state party apparatus,
a top Karnataka Congress Party official told Consulate
General Chennai. He said that the state party was already
having difficulty in distributing constituencies to potential
candidates for the upcoming national elections, and the
addition of three former MPs wanting seats as Congress Party
candidates threatened to complicate the party's internal
dynamics even more. For example, Sangliana apparently wants
to be the Congress Party's candidate for Bangalore's central
constituency, which contains large numbers of both Christian
and Muslim voters. Former Union Railways Minister C.K.
Jaffer Sharief (a Muslim) has also expressed his desire to
run for the Congress Party in the same district.


8. (SBU) Many observers cite the Congress Party's inability
to settle on a clear Chief Minister candidate for the May
2008 legislative assembly elections as a key factor in the
party's loss. If the disarray continues in the run-up to the
national polls, it can only help the Congress Party's main
opponents in the state, the BJP and the regional Janata
Dal-Secular (JDS).

CPM Suspends Unlikely Communist Muslim Modi Fan
--------------


9. (U) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM)
suspended Member of Parliament A.P. Abdullakkutty from the
party for one year for publicly praising Gujarat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi. Abdullakkutty had praised Modi's
investment-friendly policies at a meeting of overseas
Keralaites held in Dubai. Explaining the disciplinary
action, CPM leaders told the media that the industrial
policies of Gujarat were "extreme right-wing and
neo-liberal." Describing Modi as a "communalist and a
fascist," the CPM leaders said no communist could justify
Modi's actions. The party also said Abdullakkutty's decision
to speak directly to the press rather than through the party
chain of command justified the punishment.


10. (U) Abdullakkutty, a Muslim elected from the CPM's
stronghold in north Kerala, has a history of bucking the
party line. He previously angered party leadership by
criticizing Leftist parties' tendency to call general strikes
for trivial reasons. In addition, Abdullakkutty's open
religious devotion is a bone of contention in the CPM, which
requires all office-holders to be "secular." Abdullakkutty
was unrepentant in the face of his suspension, saying that he
admired Modi's industrial policies, not his communal vision.
Media contacts believe that the CPM might eventually expel
Abdullakkutty for his refusal to apologize. The CPM action
once again demonstrates the iron hand by which the party
enforces discipline, even on those who might merely be
repeating what is a growing consensus - that Modi has
fostered a business friendly climate in Gujarat.

"BJP Candidate" Wins India Islamic Cultural Center
Presidency
- - -


11. (U) Sirajuddin Qureshi, sitting president of Delhi's
India Islamic Cultural Center (IICC),easily won reelection
on January 19 despite accusations that he was the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) candidate. Founded in 1984 with help from
Indira Gandhi, the IICC serves as a hub for Muslim elite in
Delhi and provides a forum for Islamic and inter-religious
programs. A wealthy businessman, Qureshi in the past created
an organization to "build bridges" between Muslims and the
BJP, the right of center political party considered anathema
by most Indian Muslims. Qureshi enjoyed the open support of
Muslim BJP politician Shahnawaz Hussain, while his opponent,

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Salman Khurshid, received open support from senior
Congressman and Sonia Gandhi advisor Ahmed Patel. Khurshid
accused Qureshi of "communalizing" the IICC and of having the
BJP's "backing." Khurshid's charges failed to stick and
Qureshi, as well as his slate of board members, won handily.


12. (U) Leadership elections at IICC are generally not
fought on a party basis. Even this race, though politically
tinged, did not amount to a full BJP vs. Congress race.
Khurshid's failed attempt to tarnish Qureshi with the BJP
label should not be read for broader national implications,
despite the fact that the BJP may want to play it that way.
The Center's voters comprise roughly 2,000 members of Delhi's
Muslim elite, hardly representative of India's 160 million
Muslims.

Kashmiri Pandit's Mark "Holocaust Day"
- - -


13. (U) Kashmiri Pandit's demonstrated in Delhi on January
19 - "Holocaust Day" as they call it - to mark the nineteenth
anniversary of their exile. Successive Indian governments
have tended to overlook this Hindu community despite the fact
that jihadi-enforced ethnic cleansing has driven virtually
every Kashmiri Pandit -- over 600,000 of them -- from their
homes in the Valley. Community organizations Panun Kashmir
and Kashmiri Samiti criticized the GOI for failing to broker
a peace agreement in the disputed territory and renewed their
demands for a separate homeland organized as a Union
Territory under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of
India. After the peaceful protests community leaders
formally presented Minister of State for Home Affairs
Sriprakash Jaiwal with a memorandum of their demands.

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