Akhilesh Yadav, entourage to cut short US visit - Times of India

LUCKNOW: Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his cabinet colleague Azam Khan have cancelled all their engagements in the United States and will return to India before schedule, their entourage in tow. The delegation was in US on an invitation from Harvard University to address a symposium on Kumbh Mela. Miffed over the silence of authorities in the US over the alleged disrespect ful treatment of Azam Khan at Boston airport on Thursday, the two had earlier withdrawn their names from the Harvard event as a mark of protest. In Uttar Pradesh, the developments bode unfolding of a major political drama as supporters of Azam Khan hold demonstrations against the US in Rampur while belligerent Samajawadi Party (SP) leaders are asking for a tit-for-tat treatment by the Indian government of visiting US nationals. The Samajwadi Party too issued its first official statement on the Azam Khan issue on Saturday, two days after the incident. The SP lambasted the US for what it described as "selective humiliation" of Indians in general and Indian Muslims in particula r in America. Spokesperson of the SP's state unit and minister for jails Rajendra Chaudhary described the incident as evidence of arrogance and superiority complex taking over the US psyche. "They have been treating Indians in general and our Muslims brethren in particular with a pre-conceived notion that we are terrorists. They have done this to our former president Abdul Kalaam, cine stars Shahrukh Khan and Irrfan Khan and now a politician as senior as Azam Khan a seven times MLA and former MP," Chaudhary said talking to TOI. Asked about the delay in reacting to the issue, Chaudhary said the party had lodged a formal protest with the Government of India the very day the incident took place. The Government of India also took up the issue with the US counterparts promptly enough. "We were of the view that the US would at least accept its mistake. But our reading is that they are not even bothered about what happened," said Chaudhary. Sources in the SP said after the Logan airport incident, though Azam Khan had announced he would deliver a short keynote address at Harvard and return to India immediately thereafter, the chief minister withdrew his name from the speakers list only after the authorities in US gave no response to the protest India lodged on the issue. It was only after the Indian Consulate in New York too failed to tender a formal "apology" even from the authorities at Logan airport, that the CM cancelled all his engagements in US including his address at Harvard and the reception thrown by the Indian Consulate in his honour, party sources told TOI. Meanwhile, senior SP leader and sitting MP Aleem Farooqui has demanded a tit-for-tat approach to US nationals visiting India. "If the US authorities can sit quiet in response to a formal protest lodged by the Indian government on the issue of Azam Khan, we should also treat them in the same manner, he opined. via Top Stories - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNHq1TPR8H-aqGBwrS9s5s_MqljzBg&url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Akhilesh-Yadav-entourage-to-cut-short-US-visit/articleshow/19762738.cms

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