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Telangana chief minister, Revanth Reddy, was scheduled to go on a 10-day visit (beginning 20 August) to the UK and the US as part of the rising Telangana delegation. The primary purpose of this two-country visit was to strengthen Telangana’s education and skill development sectors.
An unusual twist to this story came when the Telangana government sent a request for approval of the same visit to the centre on August 16, only to find that the request for the US visit was denied clearance by the Ministry of External Affairs.
Although the visit to the UK was approved, the MEA explained that it did not clear the much-crucial US visit because the proposed US program was not appropriate to the office he holds and the purpose of the visit.
Reddy learned of the cancellation of the US visit after he had already reached London and was planning to travel to Boston from there. However, instead of completely scrapping the visit, he instructed the rest of the delegation members to visit us, and fulfil the proposed task.
Reason behind reddy’s US visit
CM Revanth Reddy was scheduled to start his 10-day visit to the UK and US from August 20, as part of the Rising Telangana delegation. The main aim of this delegation was to solidify education and skill development sectors of Telangana by meeting top educational institutions and exploring partnerships that could bring international universities and educational opportunities to the state.
His delegation was expected to propose key MOU’s ( memorandums of understanding) to famous and respected institutions like:- Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Northeastern University, Virginia Tech.
The vision at large was to to turn Hyderabad into a global knowledge and education hub by bringing prestigious educational institutions and their elite courses to Telangana, rather than having always Indian students bear the effort and expense to travel abroad to study.
How does clearance for such official visits work?
Before a Chief Minister or any other government official can undertake an official foreign visit, they need what is known as “political clearance” from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). This is a routine requirement for government officials travelling abroad in an official capacity, and the MEA receives hundreds of such requests every month.
The process is fairly simple. When a state government plans an official foreign visit, it submits the details of the proposed trip to the Centre. This includes the purpose of the visit, the countries and institutions being visited, and the meetings planned during the trip. The MEA then examines whether the proposed programme is appropriate for the position held by the official and whether the nature and level of the meetings fit the stated purpose of the visit.
If the visit is official, which means that the individual is visiting as the representative of the country, the matter of political clearance is not simply about whether an official wants to travel abroad. The Centre also evaluates who the official is expected to meet and why those meetings are taking place.
Reactions from the opposition
Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and the Congress have been heavily critical of this decision, with Reddy also going on to say that nation-building and the future of Telangana’s youth should be kept above politics and elections.
The Congress party and Reddy also called out the alleged “double standards” of the central government by citing that Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel had been allowed to travel to the US and Canada for investment-related roadshows.
Ultimately, the question remains: was Revanth Reddy’s canceled US visit merely a routine government procedure, or was it a political vendetta disguised as one?