Dr Ramdas Pillai, a businessman who travelled to India on work and to attend to his ailing mother, was refused entry by immigration officials thanks to the new visa rules despite having an exemption stamp.
Pillai, former president, Kerala Hindus of North America, who was refused entry because he returned within 60 days of his last trip, has three questions.
"Did India gain anything by refusing entry based on an irrational law?
Are the sons of the soil and foreigners the same?
If the rule is to prevent terrorists like (Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and the 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind) David Coleman Headley, could they not wait for two months to go ahead with their operations?"
As Shashi Tharoor, then India's minister of state for external affairs, too mentioned, the Mumbai attackers did not come with a visa; they traveled by boat, bypassing all regulations.
The new rules came in after it was revealed that Headley traveled to India multiple times to survey terror targets.
Pillai, president and CEO of Nuphoton Technologies in California and managing director, VinVish Technologies, Thiruvanthapuram, went to India for business as well as to attend to his ailing mother, who is 85 and lives alone.
He had travelled to Kochi June 14 and returned July 27. This time he went to New Delhi, where he was to make a presentation July 28 on an invitation from Department of Industrial and Scientific Research, part of the Indian government's Department of Science and Technology, on an Emirates flight from Los Angeles and arrived at 3 am, July 27.
In February, he had taken permission to travel to India twice within two months. So, he expected no trouble. But the immigration officer interpreted it as allowing only a single entry even though it did not say so and had no expiry date.
"They could have interpreted the permission to allow entry, knowing that I am coming for legal things. Moreover, just taking a citizenship in another country will not erase my Indian-ness. It seemed they were happy to send me back," he said.
He was sent back by the same flight at 4:30 am. Flying 48 hours back-to-back, he returned home exhausted.
He had taken US citizenship in 2003, owning mostly due to his business dealings with military-related organizations, which would not deal with non-citizens.
"It does not mean that I had forsaken India. Wherever we live, our hearts and minds are in India. But the bureaucrats will not understand how Indian Americans love India and serve it in many ways without selfish motives," he said.
Pillai is involved in several charities. He is a director at the Susan Daniel Memorial Cancer Relief Fund, which helps poor cancer patients in four major Kerala hospitals. He gives a monthly pension to 50 deserving seniors selected irrespective of caste and religion in his hometown.
