Sikh for Justice's anti-Modi petition signatories reduced to 1,300

WASHINGTON: Even as a Sikh rights group claimed that its anti-Narendra Modi petition had garnered 100,000 signatures, the White House web portal put the number of signatories to over 1,300, in an apparent indication of forgery or unqualified persons signing the appeal.

The New York-based Sikh for Justice (SFJ) had launched a "We the People" petition on the White House website last month urging US President Barack Obama to cancel his meeting with Modi in September.

The group said it has brought the issue of sudden reduction in number to signatures to the notice of the White House and is awaiting response.

SFJ accused the supporters of Modi for the reduction in the number of signatories and alleged that they had hacked the White House website to reduce the number of signatures.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, of SFJ, in an email to PTI, denied any fraudulent signatures being made.

"We have no knowledge about any fraudulent signatures," he said.

"From the starting, the campaign is being fiercely run on Facebook and we have spent considerable amount on advertisement, we have statistics from Facebook proving that our petition advertisement actually reached hundreds of thousands of Americans, and thousands also further spread the same," he claimed.

Last night, the number of signatures on the White House website had been reduced to just 1,320 as against more than a lakh a day earlier.

While there was no official response from the White House, sources said the website administrators have a very strong system to ensure that the signatures are genuine.

The White House also expects that the signatories to the petitions be residents of the United States and therefore those from overseas are disqualified.

"Instead of hosting Modi at White House, President Obama should condemn Modi and ban BJP for perpetrating violence against Muslims, Sikhs and Christians," the SFJ petition said, which now has the near impossible goal of attaining 98,680 signatures before August 20 to get a response from the White House that requires 100,000 signatures.

In a statement, SFJ said it plans to picket White House on September 30, the day Modi and Obama will meet, with the help of Muslims and Christian organisations.