Taking serious note of the questioning of Azam Khan at the Logan International Airport in Boston, the Indian Embassy has raised the issue with the State Department in Washington.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday condemned the detention of its leader and Uttar Pradesh Urban Development minister Azam Khan at the Boston airport.
Samajwadi Party General Secretary Ram Asrey Kushwaha said that the American Government should apologise for their mis-behaviour.
"The government should take some steps in this regard. When a politician comes from America, our entire Cabinet stands with garlands to greet them and receive them. But when the Chief Minister of such a big state (Uttar Pradesh) visits there and a Cabinet Minister accompanied him, then they were ill treated," said Kushwaha.
"The Central Government should act on this and the Foreign Minister (Salman Khurshid) should seek an explanation from America," he added.
Taking serious note of the questioning of Azam Khan at the Logan International Airport in Boston, the Indian Embassy has raised the issue with the State Department in Washington.
"The issue has been taken up with the State Department," said Indian Embassy spokesman, M. Sridharan, in response to a question if the Embassy was aware of the incident at Boston airport on Wednesday.
The Samajwadi Party leader was detained for about 10 minutes at the Boston airport for 'further questioning' after he landed in a scheduled British Airways flight from India.
Khan, who is accompanying the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to deliver a lecture in Harvard University on the recently held Maha Kumbh Mela at Allahabad, has decided to come back after a short stay to protest against the treatment meted out to him at the Boston Airport.
Moreover, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was invited by the Harvard Business School to speak on organising the Maha Kumbh Mela, cancelled his lecture and also skipped a reception hosted by the Indian consulate in New York, to protest against his senior minister's detention and questioning at the Boston airport.
Congress leader Rashid Masood commenting on the issue said that the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister did the right thing by refusing to deliver the lecture.
"This has happened with Shah Rukh Khan and many other people. America's policy is anti-Muslim policy and that is why if the Chief Minister has refused to go, he has done the right thing," he told media persons in the national capital.
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