WASHINGTON: The so-called Left-liberal forces don't have a monopoly anymore on American academic discourse, at least where India and Narendra Modi are concerned. More than 150 US-based academics issued a statement on Tuesday welcoming Prime Minister Modi's visit to the US and his " Digital India " agenda, challenging the assertion by their liberal counterparts and peers who wrote a letter to Silicon Valley executives cautioning them about the Modi government's motives pursuing the digital program.

Suggesting that the liberal activists were needlessly demonizing the Digital India project, the signatories to the pro-Modi statement maintained that it "heralds a new age of participatory democracy and enhances transparency in governance in India, levelling the playing field for vast numbers of India's citizens."

"We recognize the indigenous talents of Indian scientists to develop the infrastructure to effectuate Digital India and other initiatives predicated on technological advancements, even as we express our hope that Prime Minister Modi will seek partnership with American academic and business leaders with the expertise and experience to ensure that Digital India realizes its potential without imperilling India's privacy laws and individual liberties," they said.

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But the Digital India debate was a thin cover for a more insidious fight over Modi's human rights record that overseas leftist and separatist groups have consistently attacked, although foreign governments have relegated it to the background. The pro-Modi statement did not address the left-liberal criticism on this matter, but asserted that "under Prime Minister Modi, India's civilizational contributions of yoga, spirituality, religious pluralism, art, and music are enjoying renewed patronage and public acceptance globally."

US campuses are typically regarded as liberal enclaves, and for some years now, leftist academics of Indian-origin have monopolized the debate on India , and particularly its human rights and civil liberties record. But Aseem Shukla , an associate professor of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania and board member of the Hindu American Foundation, who distributed the latest letter, pointed out that Tuesday's statement drew signatories from the liberal arts, business schools and medical schools.

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"There is a very strong representation from faculty in engineering disciplines, who, arguably, are best prepared to comment on Digital India as well as the Aadhar program," he pointed out.

Vamsee Juluri, a professor of media studies at the University of San Francisco , said the leftist petition was more about perpetuating the illusion in academia that somehow Modi is supported only by non-academic, un-intellectual "Hindu nationalist" fringe elements. "The reality, as the counter petition demonstrates, is that a large number of Indians in American higher education, professors, scientists, alums, students, reject the claims of the original petition," he said.

Modi's supporters meanwhile are chuffed by the massive response to his scheduled appearance at a Facebook town hall meeting announced both by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the Prime Minister. On Tuesday morning, Zuckerberg's announcement had attracted 683,000 likes, 32,000 comments, and 39,000 shares.

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Right-wing troll patrols also stuck it to the anti-Modi crowd, needling someone who tweeted that he would boycott Facebook because of Modi's appearance, "He's going to visit Twitter too!"