Dr. Sudhir Parikh pulls out of WIEF 2013, asks Wharton to introspect


Ahmedabad, DeshGujarat, 13 March 2013

Another panelist has pulled out from the Wharton India Economic Forum this year. Padma Shri Sudhir Parikh, Chairman and Publisher of Parikh Worldwide Media LLC. has written a letter to organizer of this year’s event of Forum Dr. Ram Narayan and has asked the forum organizers to introspect. Here is the full text of Dr. Sudhir Parikh’s letter to Dr. Ram Narayan:

Dear Dr. Ram Narayan:

At the outset I’d like to thank the Organizing Committee of the India Economic Forum for inviting me to join the panel of speakers. As an immigrant of over 30-years standing and dedicated to promoting the cause of India and the Indian Americans, I look forward to sharing my thoughts about NRIs as ambassadors of India.

However the manner in which the committee has been pressured to rescind its invitation to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on entirely specious grounds, I feel the intellectual integrity of the forum has been compromised. As a published, I am constrained to err on the side of free flow of ideas and unfettered discussion public policy issues be it in academia or journalism. It is for this reason; I have no choice but to withdraw my name from the panel of speakers of this year’s forum.

But I have no doubt that the forum will introspect over what happened and make efforts to recoup its reputation in the years to come as an objective platform for promoting U.S-India relations. And I look forward to contributing to the forum’s future endeavors.

Sudhir Parikh, MD.

Dr. Sudhir Parikh was to speak in the event as panelist in NRIs related session. How Wharton has become a joke is evident from the fact that Mr. Sadanand Dhume, another panelist in this session also pulled out of the event few days back, protesting against the decision of dropping Mr. Modi as a speaker under the pressure of around couple of hundred left-wingers.

Ever since Wharton succumbed to 200 left-wing facebookers, mockery is just not ending. Platinum sponsor Adani Group, Silver sponsor Colors TV, Bronze sponsor Hexaware technologies withdrew their sponsorships. Mr. Adani, Mr. Sadanand Dhume, Mr. Atul Nishar, Mr. Suresh Prabhu are some of the speakers who also have distanced themselves from the event.