Ahmedabad, DeshGujarat, 13 March 2013

For reasons best known to them, it seems Union Minister Milind Deora, Perfect Relations Founder Dilip Cherian, and popular film journalist Rajeev Masand have pulled out of Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) 2013. While Dilip Cherian and Milind Deora were keynote speakers, Rajeev Masand was a panelist in Media and Entertainment session. Photographs and details of these speakers are removed from the official website of WIEF.

This is a big shock for the organizers of the event who have lost more than half a dozen speakers, panelist until now. The organizers are also finding it difficult to get new speakers, panelist due to controversy they have created around the event by droping Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from the speakers list under pressure of some 200-odd leftist facebookers.

All sponsors barring one foreign bank and Government of India’s Tourism department have pulled out of the event. Suresh Prabhu, Gautam Adani, Atul Nishar, Dr. Sudhir Parikh, Sadanand Dhume are among some panelists/speakers who have already pulled out of the event in the past.