New Delhi: As the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government and the political class hardened its stand over the arrest, strip-search and ill-treatment meted out to Indian Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade by New York police on the charges of visa fraud, the India-US bilateral relations have been severely hit after New Delhi took a host of measures to show Washington that business cannot be normal after the incident. The government hit out very strongly at US diplomats based in India by announcing several measures against them until the US apologises or rethinks over its decision to arrest and humiliate the Indian diplomat.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said, "We have expressed our deep distress and sense of disquiet that has been very very strongly felt. We have put in motion what we believe would be effective way of addressing this issue."
In one of the strongest steps, Delhi Police removed barricades from outside the US Embassy and all import clearances for the Embassy have also been stopped, which means American diplomats cannot import anything. There will be no special privileges to US diplomats and all of them will have to move through normal channels including immigration, customs and security check at Indian airports.
In an exceptionally strong stand, India is recalling all consulate personnel ID cards and made it clear that the law of strict reciprocity is in place. So if the US says that Devyani has limited immunity, a similar procedure will be applicable for US diplomats stationed in India.
India has also withdrawn all airport passes for consulates and embassy vehicles which mean they cannot get priority treatment and will have to park their vehicles as ordinary passengers after paying the fee. In another stern step authorities have asked for all details including salaries paid to all Indian staff employed in US consulates, including those working as domestic help by the Americans families in India.
To determine if they're paying tax or not, India has also asked for visa details of all teachers at US schools in the country and what they're being paid and details of their bank accounts.
The slew of diplomatic measures has been taken to leave the US "in no doubt of seriousness of India's concern over the issue of Devyani Khobragade".
Union Minister Shashi Tharoor also backed India's move and said, "It is very clear that reciprocity is one of the cardinal principals of diplomatic relations and if our consulate people are treated in this way its entirely appropriate that treatments should be issued to other countries consulate officials because it is a two way traffic. We value our relations with the US but at the same time we can not value it more than the US values its relations ship with us and that's why reciprocity is so common in diplomatic conduct and that is what the government has appropriately done."
While many said the measures including removing security are harsh and excessive, Ministry of External Affairs sources said it was a response to the harsh and excessive treatment meted out to Devyani Khobragade.
Officials were angry not just at Devyani Khobragade's arrest but the fact that she was handcuffed, strip searched and treated like a common criminal in lockup, but also the US's refusal to apologise or explain the move.
US State Department spokesperson said, "The State Department of diplomatic security followed standard procedures in the arrest."
But the above measures are not the only step that India has taken to lodge its protest. A US Congressional delegation in India was snubbed by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi with all of them refusing to meet the American lawmakers.
The snub to the US delegation is seen as a strong message by both the Centre and the Congress party as they have been accused by the opposition parties of following a soft foreign policy.
Devyani Khobragade was not only arrested on charges of visa fraud and handcuffed in public view last week but also stripped and searched in the police station in New York. Devyani was kept also in a lockup with common criminals and drug addicts
Devyani's father, too, hit out at the US government over her arrest. "First thing, the arrest was wholly unjustifiable, what crime she has done? She is not a murder, she is not a criminal. So I feel this whole arrest was an alibi for something else. Was it such a serious offence that she was arrested on the road and treated in an inhuman way," he said.
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