Devout rely on temple, not PM or Trump, for H1-B visa
The much anticipated H1-B visa issue that was looming large ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent meeting with US President Donald Trump, fizzled out as it failed to figure in the talks held between the two leaders. This, on the other hand, has the common people worried to such an extent that divine intervention seems to be the only solution for many.
By : migrator
Update: 2017-06-28 21:28 GMT
Chennai
With the restrictions raising concerns among those planning to immigrate to the US, the Sri Lakshmi Ganapathy Visa temple in Chennai, renowned for its ‘Visa granting abilities,’ has been witnessing a huge footfall of visa applicant devotees.
“For the past few weeks we have been seeing a significant increase in the number of people coming to the temple seeking blessing for their US visa applications. This surge started a week after the restrictions were announced.
Interestingly, it is not just the people of Chennai who come with offerings. Just two weeks ago, we had a surge of people from cities like Bangaluru coming to us as well,” said R Jaganaathan, whose family had set up the temple at Brindavan Nagar in Nanganallur some 30 years ago.
The visa has been a cause of apprehension, especially among the tech community, after the recent announcement stating that Infosys was fined for not meeting the visa regulations and hiring more American citizens. However, there is a piece of good news.
Around 8,000 workers will get their visas this fall, and thousands more will get their visas renewed, out of which around 65 per cent are Indians. “More than 40 per cent of the devotees who come to the temple now are US visa seekers.
Earlier, the crowd used to swell only during Sankatahara Chaturthi, but now, we have hordes of US visa applicants coming here everyday to perform special archanas. We have also been receiving calls from NRIs with requests to perform poojas and courier them the prasadam,” Jaganaathan added.
Jaganaathan, a retired consultant from a private hotel, added, “Initially it was just the locals who came with such requests. Later, as local newspapers and online sites started writing about us, the story spread and we started receiving devotees from all over the country. This is when we added ‘Visa’ to the name of the temple.”
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