- Jun 1, 2004
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Unwittingly stirring up a controversy brimming with passion
By MARY JO MELONE, Times Staff Writer
Published September 20, 2004
Sometimes, writing a column is like bumping into a wasps nest. You have no idea what you'll stir up. Such was the case Wednesday, when I told the plight of a man facing deportation to his native India, where he fears he will be arrested and killed by police. Paramvir Singh Chattwal, who is of the Sikh faith, is convinced that he will fall victim to a long-running government campaign against the Sikh minority in India.
I quoted him saying that, and the e-mails came hot and heavy, from Indian immigrants who believed I had maligned their native country and misstated conditions there. What planet was I living on, they wanted to know.
"The story frankly outraged many of us," said Vasudha Narayanan, a religion professor at the University of Florida.
Narayanan said I unfairly portrayed India "as a country with no human rights."
Some assumed Chattwal was a criminal making up a story, seeking political asylum in a desperate attempt to avoid India's poverty.
A University of South Florida graduate student, Parshuram B. Zantye, of Tampa chimed in.
Full Articles... http://www.sptimes.com/2004/09/20/Columns/Unwittingly_stirring_.shtml
By MARY JO MELONE, Times Staff Writer
Published September 20, 2004
Sometimes, writing a column is like bumping into a wasps nest. You have no idea what you'll stir up. Such was the case Wednesday, when I told the plight of a man facing deportation to his native India, where he fears he will be arrested and killed by police. Paramvir Singh Chattwal, who is of the Sikh faith, is convinced that he will fall victim to a long-running government campaign against the Sikh minority in India.
I quoted him saying that, and the e-mails came hot and heavy, from Indian immigrants who believed I had maligned their native country and misstated conditions there. What planet was I living on, they wanted to know.
"The story frankly outraged many of us," said Vasudha Narayanan, a religion professor at the University of Florida.
Narayanan said I unfairly portrayed India "as a country with no human rights."
Some assumed Chattwal was a criminal making up a story, seeking political asylum in a desperate attempt to avoid India's poverty.
A University of South Florida graduate student, Parshuram B. Zantye, of Tampa chimed in.
Full Articles... http://www.sptimes.com/2004/09/20/Columns/Unwittingly_stirring_.shtml
