US Visa Denied to Mr. Narendra Modi CM , Gujarat

[Cerebral _teaser]

US visa denied to Mr. Narendra Modi CM, Gujarat



....Your Comment ??????

[Sharjeel]

He deserves it, but it is a bit of an instulting action on the part of of Uncla Sam.

[Portuguese Man-Of-War]

It is not an insult. The US has a law, he did not meet its requirements, and he got denied. If we had a legal requirement that some prospective US visiting dignitary did not meet, we would not allow him either, and would be perfectly within our rights.



The following is from http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/mar/19modi9.htm

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Following is the text of a letter United States Congressman from Pennsylvania Joe Pitts and 21 other US Congressmen sent Secretary of State Dr Condoleezza Rice requesting that Modi be denied permission to enter the US 'due to numerous reports of his involvement in horrific human rights violations in India.'



Published verbatim.



March 7, 2005



The Honorable Dr Condoleezza Rice

Secretary of State

US Department of State

2201 C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20520



Dear Secretary Rice:



We are writing to raise our deep concern about the upcoming visit of Mr Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat, India. As you may know, Mr Modi has been invited to be the chief guest at the annual conference of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association to be held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida from March 24-26, 2005. We respectfully request that the US government deny Mr Modi entry to the United States due to numerous reports of his involvement in horrific human rights violations in India.



As you may know, Mr Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat during the 2002 riots in which over 2,000 Indian Muslims and non-Hindus lost their lives. Since that time, reports suggest that over 100,000 people remain displaced and are unable to return to their homes or communities. Numerous inquiries by Indian officials and non-government organisations have determined that the state government in Gujarat, led by Chief Minister Modi, provided leadership and material support for the rape and murder of over 2,000 people, including women and young children, and the destruction of homes, businesses and resources primarily belonging to Indian Muslims. Mr Modi made public statements and directed official actions seemingly calculated at justifying his orders to increase attacks on and kill religious minorities while ordering the police not to interfere.



After an extensive investigation of the violence in Gujarat, Human Rights Watch stated that the "attacks against Muslims (and other religious minorities) in Gujarat have been actively supported by state (BJP) government officials and by the police."



In addition, The Citizens Tribunal in India, led by retired Supreme Court Justice V R Krishna Iyer, concluded that the state government of Gujarat under the leadership of Chief Minister Narendra Modi was responsible for the violence perpetrated against religious minorities in Gujarat in 2002. Furthermore, the US Department of State reported that in "Gujarat, there continued to be credible evidence of prejudice in favor of Hindus and an unwritten policy of impunity against the perpetrators of the 2002 religious violence."



Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his government have obstructed attempts to bring the perpetrators of the 2002 violence to justice. Mr Modi and his administration closed the files on over 2,000 police cases where the non-Hindu victims filed reports of rapes, killings and destruction of their property. The Gujarat state administration claimed there was no evidence to prosecute those cases. However, most of the people named in cases against the police are associated with Mr Modi's political party.



In a recent unprecedented order, the Supreme Court of India ordered the reopening of all those cases to be tried in a neighbouring state by a special bench of judges. The Supreme Court of India called Mr Modi a "modern day Nero" and warned him not to meddle with the proceeding of the trials.



Furthermore, the US State Department has discussed in one of its reports the role of Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his government in promoting attitudes of racial supremacy, racial hatred and the legacy of Nazism through his government's support of school textbooks in which Nazism is condoned.



For example, in a high school social studies textbook, the "charismatic personality" of "Hitler the Supremo" and the "achievements" of Nazism are described at length. The textbook does not even acknowledge Nazi extermination policies or concentration camps except for a passing reference to "a policy of opposition towards the Jewish people and [advocacy for] the supremacy of the German race."



In addition to his reported culpability in the Gujarat riots and his promotion of racist ideology, there are widespread reports of Mr Modi's leadership of the harassment of Christian religious and educational organizations over a number of years. Further, on a daily basis Chief Minister Modi and his government actively harass Christian leaders and Christian religious organizations who are involved in the relief and rehabilitation work of the victims of violence by extremist Hindus.



Even further, Mr Modi ordered a census, ruled illegal by the Gujarat High Court, of the Christian community -- the same action he took prior to the orchestrated attacks on Muslims in 2002. Even Indian Hindus who oppose Modi's violent tactics against the religious minorities are harassed and intimidated by state authorities. And, under his leadership, the state of Gujarat passed an anti-conversion law in strong violation of the Indian Constitution and international human rights norms to which India is a party.



We are deeply concerned that a visit to the United States by Chief Minister Modi is in violation of the International Religious Freedom Act and will provide tacit approval of his reprehensible statements, policies and actions that violate the core of the fundamental human rights upon which our nation is founded. We respectfully request your leadership in publicly condemning his actions and policies by denying Chief Minister Narendra Modi the right to enter our country.



Thank you for your attention to this serious matter. We look forward to hearing from you.



Sincerely,

Congressman Joe Pitts

[Sharjeel]

It is still very bad on the part of US. There was that case of Georgie baay too. That was also within rulesm, but thet is not the point...

[Mayavi Morpheus]

This is a ridiculous decision taken by US and should face serious repurcussions from both GoI and the NRI community.

Modi may have orchestrated the gujarat riots and he may be the worst human being, but still he is the CM of a state, an elected representative of the Indian democracy and that postion should be respected.

His diplomatic Visa was denied and tourist visa was cancelled while the case is still being tried in the court. He is not yet convicted by the Indian Judicial system. The American decision was based on the conclusions of some unofficial courts and general opinion.

If US can invite Musharraf, Ariel Sharon and every pro-US mass murderer to camp david, then they sure can let Modi into US.

And this is hypocrisy (?) of the highest order coming from a country whose president has killed 100's of thousands of people just to achieve his stratergic goals.

[Mayavi Morpheus]

This is a ridiculous decision taken by US and should face serious repurcussions from both GoI and the NRI community.

Modi may have orchestrated the gujarat riots and he may be the worst human being, but still he is the CM of a state, an elected representative of the Indian democracy and that postion should be respected.

His diplomatic Visa was denied and tourist visa was cancelled while the case is still being tried in the court. He is not yet convicted by the Indian Judicial system. The American decision was based on the conclusions of some unofficial courts and general opinion.

If US can invite Musharraf, Ariel Sharon and every pro-US mass murderer to camp david, then they sure can let Modi into US.

And this is hypocrisy (?) of the highest order coming from a country whose president has killed 100's of thousands of people just to achieve his stratergic goals.

[Jaan]

This is a ridiculous decision taken by US and should face serious repurcussions from both GoI and the NRI community.
Modi may have orchestrated the gujarat riots and he may be the worst human being, but still he is the CM of a state, an elected representative of the Indian democracy and that postion should be respected.
His diplomatic Visa was denied and tourist visa was cancelled while the case is still being tried in the court. He is not yet convicted by the Indian Judicial system. The American decision was based on the conclusions of some unofficial courts and general opinion.
If US can invite Musharraf, Ariel Sharon and every pro-US mass murderer to camp david, then they sure can let Modi into US.
And this is hypocrisy (?) of the highest order coming from a country whose president has killed 100's of thousands of people just to achieve his stratergic goals.

Each case is individual. Speaking of Modi in the same breath as Sharon, Musharraf...so he is as bad as potrayed?

And, this is not hypocrisy MM, and I thought we have been over this already (in an older thread), when are you people going to stop blaming Bush? He might be the frontman but I believe there are some powerful people behind the "strategic goals" as you put it. Anywho.



I don't know the case of Modi that well (only from what I have read on this thread). But, I don't believe that this an United States consipracy to oust Modi from entering (despite the released congressman's letters). I think they made a carefully calculated decision, I am sure they forethought of any future repercusions before handing the rejection notice.



Jaan

[akhilis2cool]

they showed an interview of the leader of an orgn. that opposed modi's visit. the same group had opposed Bush's election too. another group from the UK said Bush and Modi fall in the samer category (mass murderers). does that mean bush isnt going to b allowed to visit the UK...rediculus.

[CtrlAltDel]

what ever the consequences of this incident, the US has ensured that Modi has gone down as a wounded hero and a martyr in the eyes of most of the Indian Public....



even the Congress and the Left are forced to support his case now because it can become a politically favourable issue for BJP in future...



there was this well written editorial in Indian Express about this incident, that i Ctrl-V below:



US government has achieved the impossible



When Narendra Modi talks democracy and human rights, even ‘‘violation of judicial norms’’ and ‘‘religious freedom’’, and he gets away with it, you know the plot has gone terribly astray somewhere. The US government accomplished a marvellous feat on Friday. It denied the Gujarat chief minister a diplomatic visa and revoked an already granted tourist visa, for being a government official who was ‘‘responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom’’. In the process, it allowed Modi not only to affect the genuine outrage of the persecuted but also to legitimately divert the spotlight from his own earned notoriety to US hypocrisies on issues of religious freedom.



The revoking of visa to Modi is objectionable because it harks back to US double standards and because it is simply bad in principle. On the first count, the evidence is long and compelling. The US has memorably played hospitable host to, among others, the armed conspirators of Khalistan. Among its best friends, it counts the Saudi regime that continues to deny religious freedom to its people as a matter of course. In the visa rejection’s aftermath, the spurned Modi himself has made bold to question the US record in Iraq. Clearly, the US is not always, nor nearly equally, agitated about violations of people’s religious freedoms. But even if it had been so, the barring of Modi from US soil on these grounds is highly problematic, if not self-defeating. Banning and proscribing always ends up by lending more power to the politics of those who are banned and proscribed. If the purpose was to register its censure of Modi’s brand of hate politics, which propelled his government’s criminal abdication during the communal violence of 2002, the US would have done far better to let Modi travel to the country and then face protest groups and demonstrations of the kind that so embarrassingly greeted him in the UK not very long ago, instead of gifting him this opportunity to pose as martyr.


Democracies have ways of enforcing accountability from those like Modi and India is a mature democracy. Political and institutional mechanisms are at work. They are slow and tortuous, and they don’t always deliver unmixed results, but they will hopefully ensure that justice is done for Gujarat 2002 and its ghosts are fully laid to rest. As is well known, the Supreme Court has shown a remarkable commitment to this process, so has a fearless and independent media. India’s government has done well to register its protest at the US decision. The US government must rest assured that India can deal with its Narendra Modi.

[misusedowrylaws]

There should be equal standards for all.



Given what US has done in Abu Gharib prison and in total in Iraq, Indian Govt. can go ahead and deny VISAs to Geoege Bush et al.



Some countries like Brazil started taking finger prints of US citizen's landing there as a counter measure after US did the same to their citizens.



We Indians have a great habit of bending in front of foreigners. We have been doing this since ages. Unless some kind of radical mutation happens, we will continue to do so for a long time to come.



BTW, the Kanishka fellows had taken training in some Contra rebel training camp in US and launched terrorist attacks from American and Canadian soil.

[Habitual Perfectionist]

First of all, how does denying of a US visa to someone become an internal matter of India? The whole issue is akin to me trying to enter your house and when you deny me entry; me crying hoarse that my family was insulted. Lame!



The US has further clarified that this decision is not against the country or any state government but against an individual who was castigated by the Supreme Court of India on more occasions than once on the Gujarat riots issue. Agreed that the US has its own double standards on this issue; but why should we lower our self respect and call it an insult to our country?



If I were in Modi's place, I wouldn't take this as an insult to me. And I'll take an oath never to set foot into the US, come what may. It seems to be an insult only if you suffer from a heavy inferiority complex. And half the people in India are so gullible, they fall hook, line and sinker for BJP propoganda that it is an insult to the country and its constitution. Please folks, the constitution of the country is greater than Narendra Modi, or for that matter, any individual. Do not drag it into personal ego issues.

[Mayavi Morpheus]

It is not a simple case of rejecting visa. Thousands of Indians student visas are rejected every year and no one complains. Thats because they are ordinary citizens. But narendra modi is a DIPLOMAT. He represnts the people of Gujarat and denying him visa is akin to insulting people of gujarat and the Indian democratic and judicial process. Besides, it has a PR value for the evangelists and the pseudo-secular Indians and modi/VHP themselves.

on the flip side, this incident had made the political parties unite. everyone condemned american decision and the very few pro-US indians in india and overseas will now turn against US.

[lizard king]

It is not a simple case of rejecting visa. Thousands of Indians student visas are rejected every year and no one complains. Thats because they are ordinary citizens. But narendra modi is a DIPLOMAT. He represnts the people of Gujarat and denying him visa is akin to insulting people of gujarat and the Indian democratic and judicial process. Besides, it has a PR value for the evangelists and the pseudo-secular Indians and modi/VHP themselves.
on the flip side, this incident had made the political parties unite. everyone condemned american decision and the very few pro-US indians in india and overseas will now turn against US.

the thing is US is a soverign country and they have a right to accept or deny entry to anyone, as and when they wish. its actually a shame that he is still considered a leader. he spreads religious hatered, from what i have heard of.

[Mayavi Morpheus]

If only things were so simple jai...

No doubt the US has every right to reject his Visa, but the question is why did it choose to excercise the right. Why now? Why modi? Why only modi?

Is it to create a rift between the political parties of India?

is it to pacify the muslim population of the world and project a secular image of republican party?

Is it to bully guj govt. into allowing evangelists into Gujarat (they were banned sometime after he came into power).

Why? What is the reason behind the decision?

[lizard king]

If only things were so simple jai...
No doubt the US has every right to reject his Visa, but the question is why did it choose to excercise the right. Why now? Why modi? Why only modi?
Is it to create a rift between the political parties of India?
is it to pacify the muslim population of the world and project a secular image of republican party?
Is it to bully guj govt. into allowing evangelists into Gujarat (they were banned sometime after he came into power).
Why? What is the reason behind the decision?

it could be true that the reason might be that he banned the evalgalists or which ever sects into gujrath. But again, he did nt really have a right to do that, cos we are a secular country too. And the basis for the survival of our counry, its pillars are based on the principles of secularism. And if it was about creating a political rift between the political parties, i think we are doing it, creating an un necessary hue, which of course is not going to lead to any great conclusions. It is a well known fact that the republicans are pseudo secularists, and as such america survives on the trump card called religion. thats their culture, respect it, just like u want them to respect you and your country s culture.

[Mayavi Morpheus]

it could be true that the reason might be that he banned the evalgalists or which ever sects into gujrath. But again, he did nt really have a right to do that, cos we are a secular country too. And the basis for the survival of our counry, its pillars are based on the principles of secularism.

Secularism means everyone is free to practice their own religion and convert to other religions. Everyone knows what these evangelists want and the methods they employ and we have discussed it in other thread. So banning them is not exactly against the constituition but still the ban can be questioned. Anyway, its purely internal matter.

The US is secular too, as long as you practice christianlity, and all motels keep a copy of bible in thier rooms and ten commandments in the court houses. Yet US projects the image of it being 'freest country' on the face of earth and spews bs about lack of religious freedom in other countries.

By rejecting Visa to modi they are trying to show that they are on a moral high ground, which is bs and thats my point.

There is nothing we can do about it, but atleast I can condemn the decision and thats what I am doing.

I am actually more apalled by the statements of NRI's who supported the american decision. But then, boot licking is not new to them...

[lizard king]

it could be true that the reason might be that he banned the evalgalists or which ever sects into gujrath. But again, he did nt really have a right to do that, cos we are a secular country too. And the basis for the survival of our counry, its pillars are based on the principles of secularism.

I am actually more apalled by the statements of NRI's who supported the american decision. But then, boot licking is not new to them...

u got to draw a line man, between Indian Americans and non resident indians.

from where i see it, i dont see a point in them acting this way. the republicans are known not to be secular, and so are the rest of the maajority who voted for them.

[Xeno]

What the US did is inconsequential other than that it cost Sangh Parivar a few hundred thousand dollars which Modi would have raised here for them,but the most wierd thing in this whole drama was the rallying behind Modi by the so called secular parties and the media.This is in noway an insult to the nation, but Modi in himself is an insult to the nation,the Gujarat genocide carried out by the state machinery is an insult to the whole nation,its a pity that people are letting themselves being manipulated by the people like Modi and actually starting to believe that its a shame to the nation.

[Mayavi Morpheus]

Indian americans are also NRI's but you are right, I shouldnt be generalizing....

[ycr007]

US visa denied to Mr. Narendra Modi CM, Gujarat

....Your Comment ??????

Forget My Views...



What the Genereal Public out there feels abt it can be clearly

Gauged by the "Letters-to-Editor" published in Today's Hindu Paper.

[san]

If only things were so simple jai...
No doubt the US has every right to reject his Visa, but the question is why did it choose to excercise the right. Why now? Why modi? Why only modi?
Is it to create a rift between the political parties of India?
is it to pacify the muslim population of the world and project a secular image of republican party?
Is it to bully guj govt. into allowing evangelists into Gujarat (they were banned sometime after he came into power).
Why? What is the reason behind the decision?

Good points.