The Hindu : Front Page : Modi: U.S. sticks to its guns

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 22, 2005

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Modi: U.S. sticks to its guns

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 21. Despite the Indian Government's request to reconsider the issue, the United States will not grant an entry visa to the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi. This was communicated by the U.S. Embassy here to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) today.

In a brief statement to the press, the U.S. Ambassador, David C. Mulford, reiterated Washington's earlier stand that Mr. Modi could not be granted a diplomatic visa as the purpose for which he wished to travel to the U.S. did not make him eligible for one. As for the Gujarat Chief Minister's existing tourist/business visa, he said this had been revoked under Section 212 (a) (2) (g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which made any foreign government official who "was responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom" ineligible for a visa.

"The MEA requested that the Department of State review the decision to revoke his tourist/business visa," Mr. Mulford said. "Upon review, the State Department re-affirmed the original decision."

Reacting to the decision, the MEA spokesman said that the Government of India "regrets that in spite of its demarche ... for an urgent reconsideration of their decision to deny a visa to Mr. Modi ... the U.S. has not revised its decision ... This disregards the fact of the constitutional position of the Chief Minister of Gujarat as a democratically elected leader and appears to be based on selective judgment."

No visa ban on BJP

In his statement, Mr. Mulford stressed that the visa ban "applies to Mr. Narendra Modi only" and not to the Bharatiya Janata Party as a whole. "It is based on the fact that, as head of the State Government in Gujarat between February 2002 and May 2002, [Mr. Modi] was responsible for the performance of state institutions at that time. The U.S. State Department's detailed views on this matter are included in its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and the International Religious Freedom Report. Both reports document the violence in Gujarat from February 2002 to May 2002 and cite the Indian National Human Rights Commission report, which states there was `a comprehensive failure on the part of the State Government to control the persistent violation of rights of life, liberty, equality, and dignity of the people of the State'."

The U.S. Ambassador rejected the charge that the denial of visa to Mr. Modi was "directed at the BJP institutionally or Gujaratis as a community." The U.S., he said, "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 U.S.-India relations. I would note also the great respect the U.S. has for the many successful Gujaratis who live and work in the U.S. and the thousands who are issued visas ... each month."

Though Mr. Mulford said that the U.S. and India, "as two great and vibrant democracies, share common values on the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and representative government," the MEA spokesman said the denial of a visa to Mr. Modi was "not in keeping with the objectives that India and the U.S. share as democratic countries." Every country has a sovereign right to issue or deny visas, he said, but democratic tradition and practice "must uphold the dignity of political office that is the result of elections and a mandate given by the people of a country or State."

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