Minister of State for External Affairs Dr Shashi Tharoor says it is to be expected that there would be a mixed reaction to Shah Rukh Khan's detention at the Newark International Airport in New Jersey, which has incensed some, but has elicited cynicism by others who believe it was a publicity stunt to promote his upcoming movie, 'My Name is Khan,' which is about racial profiling of Muslims in the United States.
In an interview with rediff.com, Dr Tharoor says, "In our country, there is always a mixed reaction to everything. I can't think of an issue on which in India -- our contentious democracy -- that there would ever be unanimity of view on anything."
But he asserts that "I would say that people did feel, to take somebody, who is not shall we say... who is demonstrably too prominent and too famous to be a security risk for the US, somebody who holds a valid visa, somebody who has repeatedly been in the US in the past, and somebody for whose identity many people can vouchsafe, and to detain him," was totally inappropriate.
Dr Tharoor argues that notwithstanding that it had turned out that even though Khan had initially said he had been detained for two hours "though it turned out apparently that it was a slightly shorter time than that," it was not something "that we felt was an appropriate way to proceed."
"In my view, and I have been through -- at least I haven't been to the US since becoming a minister, but until then, I have been through -- all these checks myself and I am always happy to cooperate with immigration authorities doing their job in every country," he says. "Immigration and security are things that ultimately are in the interests of all."
"But we certainly hope that such things are conducted with some common sense and some basic courtesy, particularly when it involves outside visitors," Dr Tharoor argues.
"We had an episode involving our former President (A P J Abdul Kalam) -- he didn't make any fuss at all. He went through without complaint, but the very notion that a former President of India could ever conceivably pose any sort of security threat is I am afraid seen by many Indians as insulting," the minister adds.
"And, in the same way," he maintains, "the notion that somebody -- who has a fan following in the hundreds of millions around the world -- should be treated this way, was found offensive by many of us."
Dr Tharoor feels it also "raises a larger question, as to whether Muslims, who are such a significant portion of our population are suffering particularly from the procedures that are applied to them when they travel to the US."
"And, so, obviously, in our country these things have a certain resonance and I don't think the questions will go away, even though Khan himself on arrival back in Mumbai seemingly wanted to put the episode to rest," he notes.
Asked if US Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer had jumped the gun in saying that the US government was 'trying to ascertain the facts of the case -- to understand what took place,' and now having to backtrack since the administration believed what the immigration officials did -- while humiliating to Khan, and perhaps millions of his fans -- was perfectly alright, and no investigation was planned, Dr Tharoor says, "Many of us welcomed Ambassador Roemer's statement."
Roemer had also gone on to say that 'Shah Rukh Khan, the actor and global icon, is a very welcome guest in the United States. Many Americans love his films.'
"He (Roemer)," Dr Tharoor says, "is a man whose career has been in politics, and I think wisely he reacted with the instincts of a politician, which I would applaud."
Image: Shah Rukh Khan performing at an event in Atlantic City, New Jersey, a couple of hours after he was detained at Newark airport. Photograph: Paresh Gandhi/rediff.com
