Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Thursday avoided commenting on the ongoing controversy over 65 Members of Parliament writing to US President Barack Obama urging him not to rescind a ban on a visa for Narendra Modi, saying each nation has its own visa policies and it decides to grant or deny visas depending upon what their policy states.
"I don't think I should sit in judgement over what any Member of Parliament has done or not done. That is entirely their prerogative, that is for them to answer. Every country has its own visa policies. They decide to grant or deny visas depending upon what their policy states," said Tewari.
"And the fact is that for reasons, which are in the public domain they have decided that certain people in India who are in public life should not be allowed to set foot on the soil of their country. That fact speaks for itself," he added.
In a new twist in the controversy over Modi's US visa, several lawmakers, including senior CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury, have denied signing any such letter seeking denial of US visa for the Gujarat Chief Minister.
Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) from Uttar Pradesh, Mohammad Adeeb, yesterday insisted that the letter is authentic, and said that he was ready for any inquiry to take place on the concerned subject.
"Sitaram Yechuryji has signed on the paper where the whole substance is closed and now his name is there. So, I welcome any inquiry. This is the letter addressed to President. The subject is also mentioned on top of it. Can you expect from any Member of Parliament that he will write his name and signature without reading it, without understanding it?" asked Adeeb.
"If a Member of Parliament says that 'no I don't know the subject' then I am ashamed I feel sorry for the Member of Parliament. The fact of the matter is each and everyone has gone through the letter, agreed and then signed it," he added.
Yechury has denied having signed any letter seeking denial of US visa for Modi, saying it suggested a 'cut and paste' job.
"I deny having signed any such letter. It is neither in my character nor in the principles of my party - the CPI (M) - to petition any sovereign country on matters that fall strictly within the sovereign domain of that country," he said in a statement here.
"It is this very principle that leads us to strongly oppose and denounce any external interference into India's internal affairs undermining its sovereignty," he added.
DMK MP K.P. Ramalingam has also denied signing any letter to the US President against granting a visa to Modi.
The letter is reportedly aimed at stultifying the effort of BJP President Rajnath Singh to persuade Washington to lift the ban on Modi's travel.
The U.S. administration had imposed the visa ban on Modi, who was recently made the campaign-in-charge for the BJP, after the 2002 post-Godhra riots.
