The Hindustan Times reports “US may end 9-year boycott of Modi, envoy asks for meeting“.
If Shri Modi’s office does receive a request for a meeting from Nancy Powell, it should respond with, “Ms Powell is welcome to seek an appointment. The request will be appropriately considered and processed through the standard channels in the order received.” I don’t see why Narendrabhai should bother to meet Ms Powell, considering that he has other things on his plate — or more precisely in his chai kettle.
I hope @narendramodi politely refuses to meet the US ambassador. NM's office should say that he's busy having rallies, chai and charcha.
— Atanu Dey (@atanudey) February 11, 2014
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Update — 3 PM Feb 11th: I believe that Modi has agreed to meet Ms Powell.
Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 
I guess that is why he is an interesting politician. It is also illustrative of US’s opportunism and how they look out for their own interest. Initially ban namo without a second thought when he wasn’t a big political player and later when his prime ministerial ascent is imminent they start cozying up to him. They can claim that they initiated the rectification and reconciliation process well in advance to save face.
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Politically, it is a wise move to suppress natural instinct, appear to the bigger man, move on, and hence be cordial. In spite of its decline, the United States is still king in the English speaking media world, influences a lot of talking heads and the agenda being discussed on the world stage. Why antagonize them when there is a choice to move on? Whether Modi likes it or not, there will be a lot of PR and clarification necessary should he become PM. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has people working on that strategy already. Modi has been in this game long enough to realize all this.
Off topic, but I would love to read your take on the Wendy Doniger psycho-babble conspiracy. Banning a book is never something to be proud of, but Rajiv Sreenivasan had some good points to make: http://www.rediff.com/news/column/rajeev-srinivasan-how-hindus-for-once-used-the-legal-system-well/20140213.htm
This Harvard School of ‘Divinity’ seems to have a beef with Hindus. Perhaps it is only natural, in a school that attempts to cluster all the religions together for so-called study. I am sure you’ll recall that Doniger’s colleague, Diana Eck, was the cheerleader who led Harvard lobbying to ban Subramanian Swamy from teaching his course there because of his OpEd written after the Mumbai terrorist attack. Swamy, naturally, sniffed out the double standards right away: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/shoe-pinches-when-it-is-on-the-other-foot-says-swamy/article5694511.ece
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Narendra Modi is a controversial leader in India.
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