The Modi government’s entire defence of its Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj’s controversial decision to facilitate British travel documents last August for Lalit Modi , a fugitive wanted by the Enforcement Directorate and taxmen, rests on a humanitarian plea. Swaraj has insisted that her unprecedented personal request to the British authorities was guided solely by sympathy for Modi’s wife, Minal, who was said to be set for treatment at the Lisbon Cancer Centre in the first week of August last year.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders such as Home Minister Rajnath Singh and party president Amit Shah also reiterated this defence. Although a tweet by Swaraj claiming Modi had to go to Portugal to sign consent papers for his wife’s surgery was found incorrect, the ruling party has continued to maintain that he had to be by his wife’s side if for nothing else but to provide emotional support.
However that humanitarian argument appears to have been undermined a little by Lalit Modi himself. An obsessive social-media user, the former cricket czar has a left a graphic online record of what he did when he got the British travel documents in the first week of August. His posts do not at all suggest a man worried sick about his wife's illness. Modi, who assiduously records almost every important event in his life by posting photographs and comments on Instagram, does not even mention his wife or her cancer treatment in the first week of August when the surgery took place. However, he does note that he visited a cancer research facility in Lisbon.
When he obtained his British travel papers, Modi immediately posted a photograph of it on Instagram. But instead of mentioning how this would let him go to Portugal to help his wife through her cancer surgery, he only talks about how triumphant he is feeling about overcoming his foes and how much he is looking forward to travel and meet his friends and family members who were forced earlier to come him in London.
The next day Modi was back posting photographs of himself travelling out of Britain but once again a mysterious silence on the very purpose the Indian Foreign Minister intervened on his behalf. He remarks that he is thrilled that this is his “first flight in 4 years, 2 months and 14 days”.
Modi does not record anything on Instagram about his wife’s cancer treatment, but his tweets on August 4 do have a mention about the Champalimaiud Centre for the Unknown cancer research facility on the banks of the Taguis in Lisbon and photographs of it. He notes that it has been designed by Indian architect Charles Correa but does not specify why he visited it.
The next day, Modi recorded his presence in Portugal on Instagram by posting a photograph of himself in front the church in Fatima, the Catholic pilgrimage site about 100 km outside Lisbon. He does not mention how his wife’s surgery went, though he says he was there to honour the fulfillment of a vow.
Almost immediately, the international celebrity was off to Ibiza, the island in Spain favoured by the rich and famous as a party destination. The photographs and comments on Instagram speak about how much Modi is enjoying himself.
Since then, Modi further fortified by the restoration of his Indian passport by a Delhi High Court order a few weeks later on August 27, 2014, has been partying non-stop across more than a dozen countries all over the globe. He has posted a stream of photographs and a series of pithy comments celebrating his freedom to have fun in a fascinating variety of resorts. A loyal Lalit Modi fan club for whom he keeps his Instagram account so open have been vocal in their admiration for someone who leads their secret fantasy lives regardless of those criminal charges left behind in India.
In the year since her treatment, Lalit Modi’s wife Minal seems to be doing remarkably well and is often seen partying with him. Minal Modi last appeared in an image posted by her husband at a wedding in Venice just a few days ago along with her two sisters. Modi as usual was effusive describing them as his “two hot sisters-in-law and angel wife”.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders such as Home Minister Rajnath Singh and party president Amit Shah also reiterated this defence. Although a tweet by Swaraj claiming Modi had to go to Portugal to sign consent papers for his wife’s surgery was found incorrect, the ruling party has continued to maintain that he had to be by his wife’s side if for nothing else but to provide emotional support.
However that humanitarian argument appears to have been undermined a little by Lalit Modi himself. An obsessive social-media user, the former cricket czar has a left a graphic online record of what he did when he got the British travel documents in the first week of August. His posts do not at all suggest a man worried sick about his wife's illness. Modi, who assiduously records almost every important event in his life by posting photographs and comments on Instagram, does not even mention his wife or her cancer treatment in the first week of August when the surgery took place. However, he does note that he visited a cancer research facility in Lisbon.
When he obtained his British travel papers, Modi immediately posted a photograph of it on Instagram. But instead of mentioning how this would let him go to Portugal to help his wife through her cancer surgery, he only talks about how triumphant he is feeling about overcoming his foes and how much he is looking forward to travel and meet his friends and family members who were forced earlier to come him in London.
The next day Modi was back posting photographs of himself travelling out of Britain but once again a mysterious silence on the very purpose the Indian Foreign Minister intervened on his behalf. He remarks that he is thrilled that this is his “first flight in 4 years, 2 months and 14 days”.
Modi does not record anything on Instagram about his wife’s cancer treatment, but his tweets on August 4 do have a mention about the Champalimaiud Centre for the Unknown cancer research facility on the banks of the Taguis in Lisbon and photographs of it. He notes that it has been designed by Indian architect Charles Correa but does not specify why he visited it.
The next day, Modi recorded his presence in Portugal on Instagram by posting a photograph of himself in front the church in Fatima, the Catholic pilgrimage site about 100 km outside Lisbon. He does not mention how his wife’s surgery went, though he says he was there to honour the fulfillment of a vow.
Almost immediately, the international celebrity was off to Ibiza, the island in Spain favoured by the rich and famous as a party destination. The photographs and comments on Instagram speak about how much Modi is enjoying himself.
Since then, Modi further fortified by the restoration of his Indian passport by a Delhi High Court order a few weeks later on August 27, 2014, has been partying non-stop across more than a dozen countries all over the globe. He has posted a stream of photographs and a series of pithy comments celebrating his freedom to have fun in a fascinating variety of resorts. A loyal Lalit Modi fan club for whom he keeps his Instagram account so open have been vocal in their admiration for someone who leads their secret fantasy lives regardless of those criminal charges left behind in India.
In the year since her treatment, Lalit Modi’s wife Minal seems to be doing remarkably well and is often seen partying with him. Minal Modi last appeared in an image posted by her husband at a wedding in Venice just a few days ago along with her two sisters. Modi as usual was effusive describing them as his “two hot sisters-in-law and angel wife”.
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