Bharat Rakshak

(Reuters) - The Samajwadi Party has urged Devyani Khobragade, the woman at the centre of a diplomatic storm in the United States, to stand for parliament, highlighting how public outrage has turned the case into a battleground for votes ahead of next year's election.

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"Because of the election, they will try to outdo each other," said Neerja Chowdhury, a political analyst and a former political editor of Indian Express newspaper.

"They don't want to be seen as weak on the issue when the mood in the country is one of huge anger about this."

The regional Samajwadi Party offered to put Khobragade up as a candidate in the election, due to be held by May, in one of the parliamentary constituencies in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, whose voters could swing the outcome.

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Competition for the votes of low-caste "Dalits", who account for about 16.5 percent of the population, is intense.

"Had it not been for the election, or had she come from an upper caste, this would not have gained mass appeal. It's a very competitive time and all the parties have to show a pro-Dalit face," said Ajay Gudavarthy of the politics department at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Breathless and indignant coverage by Indian TV news channels of the diplomat's ordeal at the hands of U.S. marshals has added to a sense that national pride has been wounded.

Prasad wrote:Forget that. Burkha tweets that GoI has conveyed to the US that the maid is an employee of GoI. Not sure how that works with whatever documentation was submitted during the visa process. GoI employee means she doesn't come under us law of course.

Again, if the maid was being paid there, she might have filed tax returns. Or atleast gotten her w-2 form. That would be very interesting if and when produced by either side. Although the wage issue isn't really being denied by ex-ifs and diplomats.

KLNMurthy wrote:

RCase wrote:SS - Driver might be Indian, but memshahib will be inconvenienced waiting in the hot sun for a few hours no? Driver can be offered chai biskoot. This will be the trailer of what the movie might be if a 'serious' charge is uncovered.

If "they" can plant servants, why can't "we" plant servants also, hain?

Raw agint "chikna" young driver goes to work for known gay official, and brings charges of gay sexual harassment / forced sodomy against said official, who is then hit with Sec 377 (which is not applied to chikna lad since he was unwilling victim onlee) and the rest of the IPC in dealing with rape charges. When unkil protests that it is a he said-he said situation with no objective proof, gently explain that due to recent emphasis on punishing sexual offenses (thanks to progressive light shown by none other than unkil himself) it is now the practice in india to give maximum weightage to victim's statement in such cases.

burkha dutt on twitter wrote:India conveyed to the US in writing in October that sangeeta richards employee of GOI not to be covered by US law

pankajs wrote:1.20 pm: Law will take its own course, says Shinde on domestic help case Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the government will not interfere in the case against Devyani's domestic help. "Law will take its own course," Shinde said. The Delhi Police had in October registered an FIR against Sangeeta Richard and her husband Philip Richard after a complaint by Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade.

Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/world/devyani- ... ef_article

KLNMurthy wrote: Raw agint "chikna" young driver goes to work for known gay official, and brings charges of gay sexual harassment / forced sodomy against said official, who is then hit with Sec 377 (which is not applied to chikna lad since he was unwilling victim onlee) and the rest of the IPC in dealing with rape charges. When unkil protests that it is a he said-he said situation with no objective proof, gently explain that due to recent emphasis on punishing sexual offenses (thanks to progressive light shown by none other than unkil himself) it is now the practice in india to give maximum weightage to victim's statement in such cases.

Lalmohan wrote:the 'great and the good' in the US are wondering why india doesn't poodle over like everyone else and just take it (after all - the other poodles do)
now this case has got everyone's chaddis in a twist and no one knows how to get out of it

Arjun wrote:Why didn't the Indian government think of evacuating Devyani fearing intimidation from the US, as has now turned out to be a reality ? Warning signs of impending US intimidation in the case seem to have been around for a few months.

Cosmo_R wrote:Just to throw a spanner into the works: what is DK's salary? I believe it's ~INR 50K can't be sure whether it's monthly (should be) and what that translates into USD/hour

Making matters more complex -- and perhaps the reason why India was reluctant to simply pull Dr Khobragade out of the consulate to safety once it was known that the case against her was fairly serious -- is that her husband is a naturalised US citizen.

Cosmo_R wrote:Just to throw a spanner into the works: what is DK's salary? I believe it's ~INR 50K can't be sure whether it's monthly (should be) and what that translates into USD/hour

Rony wrote:one more twist. Devyani's husband is a US citizen


Making matters more complex -- and perhaps the reason why India was reluctant to simply pull Dr Khobragade out of the consulate to safety once it was known that the case against her was fairly serious -- is that her husband is a naturalised US citizen.

Rony wrote:one more twist. Devyani's husband is a US citizen

Devyani case: Why the US needs to apologise quickly!

Making matters more complex -- and perhaps the reason why India was reluctant to simply pull Dr Khobragade out of the consulate to safety once it was known that the case against her was fairly serious -- is that her husband is a naturalised US citizen.

Cosmo_R wrote:

Rony wrote:one more twist. Devyani's husband is a US citizen


Making matters more complex -- and perhaps the reason why India was reluctant to simply pull Dr Khobragade out of the consulate to safety once it was known that the case against her was fairly serious -- is that her husband is a naturalised US citizen.

Times have changed. IFS never used to allow spouses with foreign citizenship.

chaanakya wrote:No, M K Narayanan had foreign spouse. Needs to be cleared before marriage can be solemnised.

arun wrote:

Cosmo_R wrote:{quote="Rony"}one more twist. Devyani's husband is a US citizen


Making matters more complex -- and perhaps the reason why India was reluctant to simply pull Dr Khobragade out of the consulate to safety once it was known that the case against her was fairly serious -- is that her husband is a naturalised US citizen.{/quote}



Times have changed. IFS never used to allow spouses with foreign citizenship.

GOI needs to change its rule back to the status quo ante and ensure that Indian diplomats do not have foreign spouses.

14:45 Diplomat arrest: We will find a solution to the issue, says Khurshid: Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid says it is important to preserve the relationship between India and US.

He, however, refuses to comment on the US's refusal to withdraw charges against Khobragade.

As we deal with each other we have to keep entire gamut of our bilateral relationship in mind, says Khurshid.

krishnan wrote:

14:45 Diplomat arrest: We will find a solution to the issue, says Khurshid: Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid says it is important to preserve the relationship between India and US.

He, however, refuses to comment on the US's refusal to withdraw charges against Khobragade.

As we deal with each other we have to keep entire gamut of our bilateral relationship in mind, says Khurshid.

look at how tone down the language is