Visa issue seems to be resolved, finally.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A day after Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh appealed to the US to help settle the issue of Devyani Khobragade, another sensitive matter plaguing relations between the two nations has now finally been put to rest: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will get a visa to enter the US if he is elected Prime Minister of India later this year.
The announcement was made by US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Desai Biswal, who is on her first diplomatic mission to India since taking office in November of last year. In an interview on a leading Indian news television channel, Biswal said the US would welcome Modi as the leader of India.
â€I would just say that the United States has welcomed every leader of this vibrant democracy, and that a democratically elected leader of India will be a welcome partner,†Biswal told an interviewer from Headlines Today.
The statement effectively ends the long-held controversy of the BJP leader’s repeated visa denial by the US Department of State over his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, and reverses a position that has been held by the US government for the better part of a decade. While the US had never outright ruled out giving Modi a visa — saying that cases are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, regardless of who is applying — the Gujarat Chief Minister has been denied entry into the US several times.
Biswal’s statement is also the culmination of several pro-Modi overtures that US government officials have made over the last few months. Earlier this year, US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell met with Modi in Gandhinagar and held talks with the India’s prospective future leader. The BJP party is considered the favorite to take the Lok Sabha elections later this year.
When asked if Modi’s past would still be an issue for the US, Biswal said that the US still hopes Indian society will become more “tolerant, moderate, and secular.”
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com