Twelve Hindi linguists, who were to attend the Eighth World Conference on Hindi language in New York, have been refused visa by the American Consulate.
The experts were to attend the eighth World Hindi Conference in New York
Twelve Hindi linguists from Mumbai, who were to attend the Eighth World Conference on Hindi language in New York on July 13, have been refused visa by the American Consulate. The three-day world conference is being organised by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India in association with Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, New York.
“We are shocked that only two applicants from our academy have been given visa and 12 have been denied,” said Nand Kishore Nautiyal, writer and Working Chairman of Maharashtra Rajya Hindi Sahitya Academy.
Nautiyal — who has received an invitation for this year’s conference — had attended the seventh world conference on Hindi, which was held in 2003 in Suriname, South America and says that he had faced no difficulties while procuring visa. “During the interview I was asked why we wanted to talk on Hindi and that is where I felt something fishy,” he said.
He points out that according to the denial letter we have not been able to satisfy the interviewer that we will leave
US at the end of the temporary stay.
Another delegate, Raja Shekar Chawla from the academy was also happy when he was invited for the conference, thinking that he would be able to spread the message about Hindi literature at the international level. But his hopes crashed after he his visa request was turned down. “I do not regret, as whether I attend the conference or not my efforts in this direction will continue.”
Chawla, a bio architect consultant, alleges, “The interviewer did not look at my documents properly and instead asked me how I travelled around the world.”
Another delegate says, “All the delegates who have been invited are respected and learned people in the field of Hindi literature. It is very sad to know that they have been denied visa.”
Nautiyal said, “We wanted to make Hindi one of the recognised languages in Europe through the conference. May be the Americans do not want this and hence denied us visas. We never intended to stay in the US or make a living there. We only wanted to spread the message of Hindi language.” The group has now written to the Ministry of External Affairs for further action. The officials from American Consulate and Ministry of External Affairs were not available for comment.
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