Gandhigiri wave in USA

In an eloquent display of 'Gandhigiri', unhappy Indian green card seekers sent hundreds of flowers to the US immigration agency to protest a last minute reversal in a policy that would impede their way to permanent residency.

Last week, the agencies involved, the Department of State and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service claimed that a communication gap and an overzealous attempt at reducing backlogs caused them to use up all available green cards for the current fiscal year by Monday, July 2, 2007, contradicting an earlier press release that they would honor applications through July 2007

The resulting discontent among applicants gained significant media attention across the United States and abroad, even striking a chord in Bollywood, the world's largest movie industry.

Scores of highly-skilled professionals in the United States are sending flowers to the US Citizenship and Immigration Service in a symbolic act of "Gandhism" or "Gandhigiri", to demonstrate their displeasure and to request the honoring of their green card applications filed in July.

In response to this event, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who produced the run-away successes "Munna Bhai MBBS", and "Lage Raho Munna Bhai" stated, "Mahatma Gandhi has influenced several personalities, including American Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, Jr. These young, law-abiding professionals have set out to strive for reform the right way - the Gandhigiri way."

The theme of "Lage Raho Munna Bhai" centers on the use of non-violent principles to win over difficult and non-co-operating entities.

Rajkumar Hirani, who has directed the Munna Bhai series, added "When you feel you have been wronged, you feel angry. The best way to overcome what you think is unjust, is to protest peacefully. Be nice to your opponent and let him see your point of view. My well-wishes go out to these educated, highly-skilled professionals who have abided by the law and have been eagerly waiting in line for their green cards for nearly ten years."