MPs write to US against Modi visa
With BJP chief Rajnath Singh trying to persuade the US administration to change its stance on banning Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s entry to the US, a group of MPs have reportedly risen against the move.
According to reports from Washington, 65 MPs from both the Houses of Parliament have urged the US administration to maintain the current policy of denying visa to him. However, the BJP reacted by saying how can Indian MPs write against their own democratically-elected chief minister to the head of a foreign nation. The US has imposed a visa ban on Mr Modi over the post-Godhra riots of 2002.
Rajya Sabha MP (Independent) Mohammed Adeeb, who is one of the MPs who had signed the letter, told this newspaper, that the letter was only “resent” after Rajnath Singh’s “current campaign and initiative” for getting a US visa for Mr Modi. He said the letter was sent in November 2012 just ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls. He also claimed that other MPs had also signed and sent similar letters to US President Barack Obama.
“We just wanted to know whether the US policy on human rights has shifted? Legal cases against the culprits (in the post-Godhra riots) including many senior officials in Modi’s administration are still pending in the court of law. Revoking of the ban at this juncture would be seen as a dismissal of the issues concerning Modi’s role in the riots,” Mr Adeeb said.
JD(U)’s Ali Anwar Ansari also said that he had signed and sent the letter in 2012. Interestingly, his party was still part of the BJP-led NDA. The JD(U) snapped ties with the BJP recently over Mr Modi’s elevation.
Though there were reports that CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury had also signed the letter, Mr Yechury denied saying, “I would be the last person to write to the US administration and to do something like this. We don’t want anyone to interfere in the internal affairs of the country. These are issues which will have to be settled in India politically.”
BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said, “People who are worried about popularity of Narendra Modi and who can’t fight him here want to take the fight to the US.”
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