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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 000153 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PTER IN EAGR
SUBJECT: DELHI DIARY, JANUARY 20-23, 2009 
 
¶1.  (U)  Below is a compilation of political highlights 
from Embassy New Delhi for January 20-23, 2009, that did 
not feature in our other reporting, including: 
 
--  Dalai Lama Asks Delhi to Choose Dialogue, Promote 
Tolerance 
--  Former BJP Parliamentarians Join Congress in Karnataka 
--  CPM Suspends Unlikely Communist Muslim Modi Fan 
--  "BJP Candidate" Wins India Islamic Cultural Center 
Presidency 
--  Kashmiri Pandit's Mark "Holocaust Day" 
 
Dalai Lama Asks Delhi to Choose Dialogue, Promote Tolerance 
--- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The Dalai Lama delivered several talks focused on 
nonviolence and religious tolerance January 16-18 in New 
Delhi.  In his Madhavrao Scindia Memorial lecture on 
"Nonviolence as a Strategic Tool," his audience included 
Delhi's political elite, including Congress Party 
heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Vadra, 
Home Minister Chidambaram, his predecessor, Shivraj Patil, 
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, and Election 
Commissioner Navin Chawla.  As tensions simmer between India 
and Pakistan, the Dalai Lama wove a subtle theme of the 
importance of nonviolence without directly mentioning the 
regional conflict.  He noted that "dialogue is needed most" 
when two parties have reached the "absolute brink." 
 
¶3.  (U)  The Dalai Lama underlined the historical tradition 
of religious tolerance and respect in India.  He argued that 
India, the birthplace and/or home to many of the world's 
great religions, has exported religious tolerance to the 
world.  Without referring to last year's violence in Orissa 
and Karnataka, the Dalai Lama suggested that recently India 
has failed to foster religious tolerance within its borders 
and questioned the causes of this failure.  He suggested 
India should maximize its cultural heritage of ahimsa 
(nonviolence) and compassion at home and abroad.  In a speech 
at the India Islamic Cultural Centre, the Dalai Lama also 
advocated India's concept of secularism, which does not 
preclude religion or define secularism in purely 
non-religious terms. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Responding to a question on the use of nonviolence 
and compassion in combating terrorism, the Dalai Lama 
admitted these tools can only be effective to a point as once 
an individual reaches such an extreme (i.e. becomes a 
terrorist), he is "already gone."  He advised India to up 
focus on education as the best means for preventing 
extremism, adding that" textbooks should teach non-violence 
and peace, morals without touching religion, and the concept 
of compromise." 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Comment:  The Dalai Lama cleverly and deftly 
delivered several tough messages to Indian politicians, 
academics, and others, using his trademark tools of 
self-deprecation and humor.  Given his spiritual standing and 
excellent relationship with the GOI, these messages are much 
better received.  End Comment. 
 
Former BJP Parliamentarians Join Congress in Karnataka 
--- 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Three former BJP members of parliament (MPs) from 
Karnataka joined the Congress Party on January 20.  All three 
defied the BJP party whip in July 2008 and voted in support 
of the U.S.-India civil nuclear agreement.  The BJP then 
kicked them out of the party and, under Indian parliamentary 
procedure, they lost their seats in parliament.  The highest 
profile of the three, H.T. Sangliana, is a former police 
chief of Bangalore and a Christian.  He became disillusioned 
with the BJP in Karnataka when it failed to appoint any 
religious minorities to prominent posts when the party won 
 
NEW DELHI 00000153  002 OF 003 
 
 
the May 2008 state legislative assembly elections. 
 
¶7. (SBU)  While the addition of the three former MPs helps 
the Congress Party in some ways, it may also cause additional 
complications for the already-divided state party apparatus, 
a top Karnataka Congress Party official told Consulate 
General Chennai.  He said that the state party was already 
having difficulty in distributing constituencies to potential 
candidates for the upcoming national elections, and the 
addition of three former MPs wanting seats as Congress Party 
candidates threatened to complicate the party's internal 
dynamics even more.  For example, Sangliana apparently wants 
to be the Congress Party's candidate for Bangalore's central 
constituency, which contains large numbers of both Christian 
and Muslim voters.  Former Union Railways Minister C.K. 
Jaffer Sharief (a Muslim) has also expressed his desire to 
run for the Congress Party in the same district. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Many observers cite the Congress Party's inability 
to settle on a clear Chief Minister candidate for the May 
2008 legislative assembly elections as a key factor in the 
party's loss.  If the disarray continues in the run-up to the 
national polls, it can only help the Congress Party's main 
opponents in the state, the BJP and the regional Janata 
Dal-Secular (JDS). 
 
CPM Suspends Unlikely Communist Muslim Modi Fan 
----------- 
 
¶9.  (U)  The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) 
suspended Member of Parliament A.P. Abdullakkutty from the 
party for one year for publicly praising Gujarat Chief 
Minister Narendra Modi.  Abdullakkutty had praised Modi's 
investment-friendly policies at a meeting of overseas 
Keralaites held in Dubai.  Explaining the disciplinary 
action, CPM leaders told the media that the industrial 
policies of Gujarat were "extreme right-wing and 
neo-liberal."  Describing Modi as a "communalist and a 
fascist," the CPM leaders said no communist could justify 
Modi's actions.  The party also said Abdullakkutty's decision 
to speak directly to the press rather than through the party 
chain of command justified the punishment. 
 
¶10.  (U)  Abdullakkutty, a Muslim elected from the CPM's 
stronghold in north Kerala, has a history of bucking the 
party line.  He previously angered party leadership by 
criticizing Leftist parties' tendency to call general strikes 
for trivial reasons.  In addition, Abdullakkutty's open 
religious devotion is a bone of contention in the CPM, which 
requires all office-holders to be "secular."  Abdullakkutty 
was unrepentant in the face of his suspension, saying that he 
admired Modi's industrial policies, not his communal vision. 
Media contacts believe that the CPM might eventually expel 
Abdullakkutty for his refusal to apologize.  The CPM action 
once again demonstrates the iron hand by which the party 
enforces discipline, even on those who might merely be 
repeating what is a growing consensus - that Modi has 
fostered a business friendly climate in Gujarat. 
 
"BJP Candidate" Wins India Islamic Cultural Center 
Presidency 
- - - 
 
¶11. (U)  Sirajuddin Qureshi, sitting president of Delhi's 
India Islamic Cultural Center (IICC), easily won reelection 
on January 19 despite accusations that he was the Bharatiya 
Janata Party (BJP) candidate.  Founded in 1984 with help from 
Indira Gandhi, the IICC serves as a hub for Muslim elite in 
Delhi and provides a forum for Islamic and inter-religious 
programs.  A wealthy businessman, Qureshi in the past created 
an organization to "build bridges" between Muslims and the 
BJP, the right of center political party considered anathema 
by most Indian Muslims.  Qureshi enjoyed the open support of 
Muslim BJP politician Shahnawaz Hussain, while his opponent, 
 
NEW DELHI 00000153  003 OF 003 
 
 
Salman Khurshid, received open support from senior 
Congressman and Sonia Gandhi advisor Ahmed Patel.  Khurshid 
accused Qureshi of "communalizing" the IICC and of having the 
BJP's "backing."  Khurshid's charges failed to stick and 
Qureshi, as well as his slate of board members, won handily. 
 
¶12. (U)  Leadership elections at IICC are generally not 
fought on a party basis.  Even this race, though politically 
tinged, did not amount to a full BJP vs. Congress race. 
Khurshid's failed attempt to tarnish Qureshi with the BJP 
label should not be read for broader national implications, 
despite the fact that the BJP may want to play it that way. 
The Center's voters comprise roughly 2,000 members of Delhi's 
Muslim elite, hardly representative of India's 160 million 
Muslims. 
 
Kashmiri Pandit's Mark "Holocaust Day" 
- - - 
 
¶13. (U)  Kashmiri Pandit's demonstrated in Delhi on January 
19 - "Holocaust Day" as they call it - to mark the nineteenth 
anniversary of their exile.  Successive Indian governments 
have tended to overlook this Hindu community despite the fact 
that jihadi-enforced ethnic cleansing has driven virtually 
every Kashmiri Pandit -- over 600,000 of them -- from their 
homes in the Valley.  Community organizations Panun Kashmir 
and Kashmiri Samiti criticized the GOI for failing to broker 
a peace agreement in the disputed territory and renewed their 
demands for a separate homeland organized as a Union 
Territory under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of 
India.  After the peaceful protests community leaders 
formally presented Minister of State for Home Affairs 
Sriprakash Jaiwal with a memorandum of their demands. 
 
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