Denial of Diplomatic Visa and Revocation of Visitor's Visa for the Honorable Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Narendra Modi

President George W. Bush


The President,


United States of America


United States Government


White House


Washington, DC


email: [email protected]





and





Dr. Condoleeza Rice


Secretary of State,


United States Government


Washington, D.C.





.





Subject: Denial of Diplomatic Visa and Revocation of Visitor's Visa for the Honorable Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr. Narendra Modi





Dear President Bush and Dr. Rice:





I am writing this to request your prompt attention on this issue for a timely remedy to avoid significant political and diplomatic damage concerning US-India relations.





As a person of Indian origin, I am shocked and deeply disturbed by U.S. Government's denial of diplomatic visa to, and revocation of existing business/tourist visa of Mr. Narendra Modi, Hon. Chief Minister of State of Gujarat, India.








Mr. Modi has been denied diplomatic visa on the basis of section 212 (a)(2)(G) which requires to find the applicant ineligible for admission to the United States any foreign government official who has at any time been responsible for a particularly serious violation of another's religious freedom'.





Section 212(a)(2)(G) of the Immigration and Nationality Act that has been cited actually says "Any alien who, while serving as a foreign Government official, was responsible for or directly carried out, at any time during the preceding 24-month period, particularly severe violations of religious freedom, as defined in Section 3 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, and the spouse and children, if any, are inadmissible"





Even if Mr Modi were to be guilty as charged by the US, American law does not debar him from securing a visa because more than 24 months have lapsed since the Godhra massacre and subsequent riots in Gujarat which occurred during the last days of February and early March 2002. In any event, Mr Modi has neither been charged with nor found guilty of being "responsible for or (having) directly carried out particularly severe violations of religious freedom" by any court of law in India or anywhere in the world, let alone be tried and convicted.





In America, we have a tradition of not acting on just wild accusations but only on hard facts, and innocent until proven guilty in court, for our proper course of action on any matter. There are examples of several other currently serving world leaders who have been accused of more egregious crimes, war crimes, and violations of human rights; but were allowed to visit the USA and have been welcome at the White House also.





Mr. Modi is the Chief minister of a state with 60 million people who has been elected with thumping majority in a democratic election, which was observed by U.S. observers along with observers from other countries.


There was a systematic smear campaign carried out by his opponents. Mr. Modi is a Hindu by religion and has been accused by some Muslim organizations of being anti-Muslim. As you know, India has over 800 millions practicing Hindus and the previous Hindu dominated BJP government of India and its leaders were and are very close to your administration





Therefore to do justice to two million strong Indian community in the USA, I request you to reverse the decision regarding Mr. Modi's visa and assure the Indian community of fairness and justice, now and in the future, under your leadership at the State Department.





I request you to look into this, review the facts, and then our administration should arrive at the right decision to avoid any potential setback in US-India relations.





Thanking you for your prompt attention.





Sincerely