Chicago, Aug 18 - Simmering tensions between members of the Indian American community in Chicago and Indian Consul General Ashok Kumar Attri have come out in the open with prominent community members accusing the diplomat of dividing the community.

Matters came to a head at the India Independence Day celebrations where the consul general was conspicuous by his absence. Neither did any consulate staff attend the parade on Devon Avenue, the heart of Chicago's Indian district, nor the banquet the previous day.

The parade, which is attended by thousands of Indian Americans from Chicago and the neighbouring Midwestern states, is the highlight of the Indian Independence Day celebrations for Chicago's Indian American community. The Indian consul general has always been the guest of honour, alongwith members of the US Senate or Congress and lawmakers from the state of Illinois.

Hyder Mohammed, president of the Federation of Indian Organizations (FIA), the umbrella body of Indian community organisations in the Chicago area, said that the FIA had not extended an official invitation to Attri to attend the festivities, in protest against his consistent 'insulting' behaviour.

'The FIA has never been invited for any event organised by the consulate. When Attri took over (as consul general) the entire board of the FIA met with him, introduced ourselves to him and welcomed him to the city. But he has never invited the organisation to any event. As a representative of the government of India, his job is to serve the Indian community. It is very unfortunate that instead, he adopts this policy of divide and rule,' Mohammed, a physician turned businessman, told IANS.

Attri's rift with the community goes back a couple of years. Soon after he took over as the consul general in Chicago in 2007, Attri was invited to attend the Indian Independence Day festivities in Rolling Meadows, a Chicago suburb. Community leaders say they resented that he chose instead to attend another event organised by the Asian American Coalition.

'The host country for that event was Pakistan,' said Iftekhar Shareef, a former FIA president, and one of the few Indian American community leaders to remain untainted by the scandals swirling around deposed Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.