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 . By T.V. Antony Raj

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In late 2012, it was reported that on November 26, 2012, a group of 25 Rajya Sabha MPs had written and signed a letter to US President Barack Obama urging him not to grant visa to Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat and on December 5, 2012, a group of 40 Lok Sabha MPs had signed a similar letter. Both letters were faxed to Obama last year itself.

A couple of days ago, these letters were faxed once again to the White House by Mohammed Adeeb, independent Rajya Sabha MP of Uttar Pradesh in view of president of Bharatiya Janata Party, Rajnath Singh’s on going visit to America.

Now, it has emerged that the letter could have been faked. Some critics say that these MPs having not written any letter to their party leaders, or to the Prime Minister, or to the president for the development of their own constituencies had found the time to sign a petition to President Obama, thus bringing shame to the nation.

Some newspapers carried the entire list of MPs who have signed the letter. Copies of the letters were provided by the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC).

Here are the facsimiles of the letter sent to Obama:

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Names of the 65 MP’s,  House & Party who sent petition to Obama

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The alleged signatories include Sabir Ali and Ali Anwar Ansari (Janata Dal-U), Rasheed Masood (Congress), S. Ahmed (Trinamool Congress) Asaduddin Owaisi (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen), Thirumavalavan (Viduthalai Chiruttaigal Katchi), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), K.P. Ramalingam (DMK), A.A. Jinnah (DMK), S.S. Rasmasubbu (Congress), and M.P. Achuthan (CPI).

According to CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury his signature on the letter “appears to be a cut and paste” job. Some of the other MPs whose names were said to be in the list have denied doing so. On Wednesday, M.P. Achuthan (CPI) and MP K.P. Ramalingam (DMK) said they did not sign the letter.

However, Mohammed Adeeb, who took the initiative for this campaign, insisted that Yechury and Achthan had signed the letter and was surprised why they were retracting now.

There seems to be an anomaly in the lists. At first glance it looks like the lists contain signatures of 65 MPs, but actually only 64 MPs are listed. Look at the first row of the Rajya Sabha list. It is blank.

Even in this list of 64, three names are duplicated. For example, A.A. Jinnah (DMK) figures both in LS (6) and RS (11) lists; Lok Sabha MP S.D. Sharifuddin Shariq (JKNC) appears both in LS (3) and RS (13) lists; and an MP from West Bengal appears both in LS (24) and RS (5).

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Related articles

• 65 MPs write to Obama against visa for Modi (ibnlive.in.com)
• Letter to Barack Obama on Narendra Modi visa: More MPs claim signatures forged (ndtv.com)
• Modi US visa row: After Yechury, another MP denies signing letter (ibnlive.in.com)
• Will act if any DMK MP signed Narendra Modi visa letter: Karunanidhi (ndtv.com)
• Letter to Barack Obama on Narendra Modi visa: Karunanidhi warns DMK leaders (ndtv.com)
• Karunanidhi denies DMK MPs wrote letter to US govt – Hindustan Times (hindustantimes.com)
• MPs letter to Obama against Narendra Modi is Congress’ handiwork: BJP (dnaindia.com)