COALITION AGAINST GENOCIDE

modi
Sangh Front in the US, NIAPPI / Shalabh Kumar Reported to the Ethics
Committee for Fraud

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington DC, November 16, 2013

The Coalition Against Genocide (CAG) has successfully exposed that
Narendra Modi’s purported event on “Capitol Hill” as a fraud and an
exercise in illegal and criminal misuse of US Government symbols.
After five days of phone calls, letters, document verification and
hundreds of emails between CAG activists and Congressional staffers,
several members of the House Republican Conference whose names had
been used to endorse the Modi event have washed their hands off the
event. First reports in the media also suggest that the
congresspersons were unaware that their names or the Congressional
seal were being used to promote the Modi event and that the fraud had
been enacted by a an organization called National Indian American
Public Policy Institute (NIAPPI) and one Mr. Shalabh Kumar, a person
with a checkered history of ethics violations.

CAG has learned that the office of Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers has
issued a “Cease and Desist” order to Mr. Shalabh ’Shalli’ Kumar and
NIAPPI, who are organizers of the event outside Capitol Hill, where
Modi is expected to appear via satellite video on November 19, 2013.

The promotional material for the event has illegally used the seal of
the House of Representatives as well as names and pictures of the top
Republican Leadership without their consent. It purports to have the
support and endorsement of the House Republican Conference, a top
Republican body chaired by Rep. Cathy Rodgers.

The “Cease and Desist” Notice seeks immediate cessation of all
activities to promote the Modi broadcast in the name of Congresswoman
Rodgers and the House Republican Conference. Even as the office of
Rep. Rodgers issued the “Cease and Desist”, other Republicans namely
Congressman Sessions moved swiftly to put a distance between
themselves and the Modi broadcast. In a statement issued by
Congressman Sessions received by CAG via email, Congressman Sessions
stated clearly:

“It has come to my attention that the National Indian American Public
Policy Institute (NIAPPI) recently used my name and image on an
invitation to an event that it is hosting in Washington, DC, on
November 19. At no point in time did I agree to attend this event, nor
did I approve of the use of my name or image on this invitation.
Further, I did not see the invitation until it had been distributed
publicly. Had I known that my name and image were on this invitation
before it was distributed, I would have requested that they both be
removed. Additionally, I have contacted NIAPPI to request that they
remove my name and image from this invitation and that they explicitly
ask my approval before using my name or image in any of their
materials going forward.” – U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX-32)

NIAPPI, the key agent behind this misrepresentation and fraudulent
promotional tactics, is a Hindu nationalist front organization posing
as a public policy institute. It is a resting ground for RSS stalwarts
like Bhailal Patel. In the case of this event, Kumar and company tried
to run piggyback on an event titled the “Indian American Meetup” that
has nothing to do with NIAPPI, and that is indeed taking place inside
the Capitol Hill building on November 19. The program schedule for
this event clearly shows that neither Mr. Modi nor any functionary of
the RSS are scheduled to speak at this event. This GOP “meet and
greet” event with Indian Americans was projected as a Modi promotional
by Shalli Kumar and the NIAPPI.

“It is typical RSS obfuscation and manipulation,” said Biju Matthew of
CAG. “They have a long history of fomenting trouble by throwing dead
cows into temples and dead pigs into mosques. Now they have thrown the
House Seal on to a Modi flyer. Old habits die hard, ” Matthew added.

CAG activists spoke with the offices of Rep. Greg Walden and Rep. Bob
Goodlatte seeking clarification, since their pictures appeared on the
flyer. Staffers from both Congressmen’s offices stated categorically
that they were unaware of the event, or that the Congressmen’s names
and pictures were being used without authorization to promote it.

CAG has called on the House Ethics Committee to launch an
investigation into the fraudulent use of the House Seal, and the fake
projection of GOP support for the event. It has also called upon
Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers to expel Mr. Shalli Kumar from
the HRC’s Indian American Advisory Board. “A person who openly resorts
to fraud to promote a human rights abuser like Narendra Modi should
not be representing the Indian American community at the House
Republican Conference” said Biju Mathew. CAG further called upon
Congresswoman Rodgers to publicly disassociate herself from NIAPPI and
Modi.

The Coalition Against Genocide includes a diverse spectrum of
organizations and individuals in the United States and Canada that
have come together in response to the Gujarat genocide to demand
accountability and justice. The coalition had effectively campaigned
against Narendra Modi in 2005 to get a US entry ban on him for
egregious religious freedom violations.

CONTACT:

1. Mr. Raja Swamy

Phone: 864-804-0216

2. Mr. Shaik Ubaid

Phone: 516-567-0783

3. Coalition Against Genocide

Phone/Fax: (443) 927-9039

Email: media@coalitionagainstgenocide.org

http://www.coalitionagainstgenocide.org

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REFERENCES:

1. Indian American Meetup invitation and schedule

http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org/press/support/meetup-invitation-schedule.pdf

2. India Day invite of NIAPPI

http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org/press/support/india-day-invite-of-niappi.pdf

3. Cathy Rodgers letter to Modi

http://coalitionagainstgenocide.org/press/support/cathy-rodgers-letter-modi.pdf

4. The House Republican Conference

http://www.gop.gov/conference

5. Title 18-CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE: Use of likenesses of the
great seal of the United States, the seals of the President and Vice
President, the seal of the United States Senate, the seal of the
United States House of Representatives, and the seal of the United
States Congress

http://uscodebeta.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title18-section713&num=0&edition=prelim

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