In March 2000, when former US president Bill Clinton travelled to India in what would be a landmark visit, accompanying him was Sant Singh Chatwal, his close friend from the Indian American community.
The Clinton administration was keen that Chatwal should be included in the PM's official lunch for the visiting US president. Despite several requests from the US side, the Vajpayee government refused to let Chatwal be part of that exclusive banquet, reports Times of India.
It was a statement of how unimpressed the Indian establishment was about Chatwal despite his being part of Clinton's trail. But times have changed and Manmohan Singh's PMO has gone ahead and given the controversial hotelier a place in the Padma order, a Padma Bhushan no less.
Chatwal has been lobbying hard for a Padma award with the government and, sources said, would have been perfectly happy with a much lesser Padma Shri. Instead, the Manmohan Singh PMO decided not to stint for a friend, gifting him with a Padma Bhushan for a job that was done better by many other leaders of the Indian American community.
In 2000, Chatwal was charged with bank fraud in India, but was later dropped from the case, after he disappeared, posting a bail bond after his arrest. In September 2000, Chatwal co-hosted a $500,000 fund raiser in New York for Hillary Clinton's first Senate campaign, and in April 2007, he formed `Indian Americans for Hillary 2008'.
Chatwal has already declared plans to open his Hampshire Hotels and his boutique hotels in southern India. According to reports, he would be spending over Rs 5,000 crore in the hospitality sector, with his Dream Hotels setting up a chain in India with about 3,000 rooms and 25 hotels by 2011.
But despite the government's staunch defence of the man, questions about his award are refusing to die down, including timing of the award as it becomes clear that there was opposition to his inclusion a couple of years ago as well. The government has gone by the plea that there are no outstanding cases against him, though the mandatory IB inquiry was bound to have detailed his controversial past. "It is a case of what the government wants — it could have seen him as controversial, but chose not to," said an official.
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