Denial of US visa to Modi irks govt

Govt to lodge protest with US authorities

The Congress today found itself in an unusual position of having to defend Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who till now was considered persona non grata by the party, which blamed him for the Gujarat riots of 2002.

The bizarre turn of events took place as the US government denied Modi a diplomatic visa and revoked a tourist visa granted to him in 1998.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had to rush to Modi's aide since the US action was tantamount to a diplomatic snub to the government, which had cleared Modi's trip to the US on February 28. "This is uncalled for and we shall take action," said a visibly uncomfortable External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh.

The diplomatic visa has been denied, according to a US embassy spokesperson, under Section 214 (b), which found that Modi's visit did not qualify as a diplomatic visit.

The tourist visa was revoked under Section 212 (a)(2)(g) of the Nationalities and Immigration Act. The law prohibits entry of those, considered "responsible for or directly carried out at anytime, particularly severe violations of religious freedom."

The Gujarat chief minister was to pay a five-day visit to the US. Some Indian-American groups had threatened to organise protests against him. During the visit, billed by the organisers as a "business trip," Modi was scheduled to address the Asian-American Hotel Owners' Association in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a public meeting in New York and meet business leaders.

The Indian government was quick to react to the news, with Natwar Singh informing the Lok Sabha that the government took a serious view of the matter and would be summoning US authorities to lodge their protest and ask them to reconsider the rejection.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reacted sharply to the news and said that it was a matter of insult that a senior politicians who had got political clearance from the government was being treated in such a way.

"Granting visa is the sovereign right of any state but the manner in which it was done and reasons given (for denial of visa to Modi) are unacceptable," senior BJP leader and former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha. There was no case in any court against the Modi, he added.

Sinha was all praise for the government, who he said had "fortunately not made this a bi-partisan issue and was treating it as an issue which concerned the nation as a whole," he said.

Sinha denied that US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice had in any way hinted that this might happen when she met leader of the opposition, L K Advani. "Not to our knowledge," said Sinha.

Modi, who was understandably upset said that he felt insulted by what had happened. "I have been to the US several times after the Gujarat riots, and have a tourist visa since 1998, then why has the US done this now?" he said.

He added that he would be writing to the Prime Minister on the issue. Despite praising the government, Modi said that the party would be organising a "Swabhiman" rally, obviously, the bonhomie with the government aside political mileage has to be taken.

Meanwhile, foreign ministry officials met with the US deputy chief of mission and conveyed the fact that the revocation of visa was "uncalled for" and that the US should reconsider its decision. Blake said that he presented the views of the US government in the matter, but declined to comment on whether the US government would reconsider the matter.