Protest against Proposed 'FDI Asian Personality of the Year 2009' for Mr. Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat (India)

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    Ms. Courtney Fingar, Editor, the FDI Magazine, The British High Commissioner
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Dear Madam,

It has been reported in the media that Mr. Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat (India), has been chosen for being conferred the 'FDI Asian Personality of the Year 2009' award by the FDI Magazine of the Financial Times (FT) group.

Your attention, in this context, needs be drawn to the fact that as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr Modi, in February-March 2002, had presided over one of the worst communal carnages in post-Independence India. No less than the Indian Supreme Court, for that reason, had compared him with the Emperor Nero. And various international human rights organisations including the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch held him directly responsible for the gory mob violence in which hundreds of Muslims were killed, looted and raped. Even the National Human Rights Commission of India, a government body, strongly castigated him. He is at the moment under investigation for his role by an investigation team specially constituted by the Supreme Court of India, as per its express directive.

Not only that, even today over a large number families of Internally Displaced Muslims, the victims of 2002 communal carnage, live in rehabilitation colonies built by NGOs as they have not been allowed to return to their villages by their tormentors enjoying state patronage.

Under the impact of consequent public outcry, the US government cancelled his visa in March 2005 and his planned trip to London, as recently as in May 2009, for the India Summit 2009 had to be dropped.


The reported decision to confer him with the award is highly disturbing, and also puzzling, in that specific context.

It must be pointed out that it would help to legitimise his political career and records symbolising and promoting the politics of sectarian hatred and violence of the worst kind.


In view of the above, you are urged to forthwith drop your reported plan to honour Mr. Modi for that would, in a way, make you complicit in his horrific crimes against humanity and irreparably damage your own credibility.

886 Signatures

  • Kamayani Bali- Mahabal
  • Vahida Nainar
  • Cheryll Pereira
    • Comments
    • Completely unacceptable and horrific
  • Renu Khanna
  • Bishakha Datta
  • Amandeep Singh
  • Thresiamma Mathew
    • Comments
    • I strongly protest this move to award Mr.Narendramodi.
  • S.Srinivasan
  • Gita Madhu
    • Comments
    • В
  • ashwini ailawadi
  • Zohra Javed
    • Comments
    • В
  • Nivedita Menon
  • Sukla Sen, EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity), Mumbai
  • Yaquta
  • Rashida Savliwala
    • Comments
    • В
  • saswati swetlena
    • Comments
    • What a mockery!Killers are getting awarded!
  • Meena Saraswathi Seshu
    • Comments
    • He really does not deserve it. On the contrary he will start beleiving he did right in the gujarat genocide if given any award.
  • a q contractor
  • Ishteyaque
  • G. Fernandes
  • Lena Ganesh
  • Irfan Engineer
  • Ranjan Solomon
  • Jose Kavi
  • Savad Rahman
    • Comments
    • В
  • Rushal Thaker
    • Comments
    • Narendra Modi - A KILLER - Can just not get this Award...
  • Nagarjun Wadekar
  • John Ishvaradas Abdallah
  • Dr. Maqsud U. Nuri
    • Comments
    • Protest of award to Mr. Modi
  • Ritu
    • Comments
    • I am against this award being given to modi
  • Rajashree
    • Comments
    • Have a heart, Ms Fingar and Mr Moreno (Chairman, Pearson Group). How can you award a mass murderer?
  • Ghizal Mahdi
    • Comments
    • A chief minister responsible for the killing of thousands of Muslims and Hindus does not deserve for awards.
  • Hasan Abdullah
  • Nisha Malhotra
  • Aftab Khan
    • Comments
    • It is strange to know that London based organization is awarding "FDI Asian Personility of the Year-2009" for Mr. Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat State (India). I strongly condemn this man and hope the organization will not award this award to him. He is famous for his racist speaking.
  • Swarna Rajagopalan
  • ranjona banerji
    • Comments
    • If this is true, it is indeed surprising.
  • S Irfan Habib
    • Comments
    • It is just disgusting to know that somebody can ever think of rewarding someone like Narendra Modi.
  • Shantaram Pandere
  • Rev. N. L. Karkare
  • Altaf Makhiawala
    • Comments
    • By awarding a person like Modi an award, FT is doing great disservice to the credibility of its own award. It delegitimises the prize and sets precendence for other bloody personalities to follow suit to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the global business community.
  • DHRUV MANKAD
  • Ruchi Shroff
    • Comments
    • It is utterly shameful to award a mass murderer with anything other than a prison sentence let alone "personality of the year"
  • masooma ranalvi
    • Comments
    • deplorable.must never be allowed tohappen
  • Pradeep Esteves
    • Comments
    • Looks like this is being done to boost thier sales. It is a shame that for publicity they stoop to such levels. There are plenty more personalities in Asia who deserve such an award. If that is not the critereon for FDI Magazine, then the award is not of much value.
  • Purnima P McCutcheon
  • Chirag.Suvarna
  • Junaid Ahmed
  • Jehangir Merwanji
    • Comments
    • This could be part of a conspiracy totry and rehabilitate him in view of the SIT investigations going on
  • Bharati Ramachandran
    • Comments
    • Any public figure that is held up as an example has to fulfil the basic qualification of being a decent human being. Modi tops India's hall of shame for the government supported and indeed, authored, riots that killed thousands of Muslims. It would seriously undermine the credibility of your magazine if this award goes through.