Khaleej Times Report
New Delhi, April 7: The ministry of external affairs has as of now decided not to recall the Indian ambassador to UAE Chandra Mohan Bhandari for misusing his office for his family’s individual gain during this year’s Republic Day celebration in Abu Dhabi.
The ministry has settled to keep him on the current assignment and would not be taking any decision soon against his removal owing to his otherwise well-brought-up conduct in bringing the Indian expatriate community together in the UAE, a top ministry of external affairs official told this correspondent.
However, the ministry has taken a strong exception to his conduct saying the ambassador "unfortunately had shown a lack of judgment in including a family event in the celebration of a formal national event".
More than two months after the ambassador misused his official position to include his family affairs for the Republic Day function, he was sent strong admonition not to repeat such acts, officials said.
Bhandari had sent out an invitation under the emblem of the Government of India for a deferred Republic Day function, in which he also mentioned the names of his daughters, asking the Indian community members to meet them. The ambassador admitted that on hindsight, the inclusion of his daughters’ names in the invite had been a mistake.
The issue was highlighted in the Indian Press after India’s External Affairs Ministry reprimanded the Indian Ambassador to the UAE Chandra Mohan Bhandari for misusing an official function for personal ends. However, a large number of prominent Indian expats defended the ambassador, saying that he had done it without any malafide intentions. It just happened that the ambassador’s daughters were in transit and Mr Bhandari thought it fit to introduce them to community members since many of them had been asking about his family. Most felt the issue had been blown out of proportion, but a few also felt that the ambassador should have been more careful while using an official invite for what they thought was a purely family affair.