US refuses to lift travel ban on Modi
US refuses to lift travel ban on Modi
The United States yesterday refused to reverse a decision to bar rightwing leader Narendra Modi but stressed the move was not aimed at his Hindu nationalist party, which ruled India until last year.
United States ambassador David Mulford to New Delhi said that since Modi belonged to the category of “foreign government officials responsible for, or (who) directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violation of religious freedom” he cannot be granted a visa.
Mulford’s statement to reporters came two days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged Washington to reconsider its decision on Modi, who is accused of complicity in a massacre of hundreds of Muslims in the western state of Gujarat.
“The (Indian) ministry of external affairs requested that the (US) Department of State review the decision to revoke his tourist/business visa. Upon review, the State Department reaffirmed the original decision,” the US diplomat said.
Mulford said the decision was not aimed at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of former premier Atal Behari Vajpayee, which was ousted after national elections in May last year.
“I would like to speak specifically to the charge that this action was directed at the BJP institutionally. The US is deeply appreciative of the role that the BJP, and the Vajpayee government in particular, played in opening the way for the positive transformation in US-India relations,” he said.
Hardline Hindu groups last week attacked a Pepsi and a Coca-Cola warehouse and burnt an effigy of President George W. Bush after Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat state, was denied a visa.
