U.S. Makes About-Turn With Praise For Modi, But Brickbats For BJP

WASHINGTON: Ten years after denying a visa to Narendra Modi, the U.S. has made an about-turn praising the Indian prime minister for his statement in support of religious freedom, but slammed ruling BJP politicians for religious intolerance.

"Since the election, religious minority communities have been subject to derogatory comments by politicians linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party," the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its 2015 annual report.

There have also been "numerous violent attacks and forced conversions by Hindu nationalist groups, such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Vishva Hindu Parishad," it said placing India in its Tier 2 list of countries for the seventh year in a row.

"In 2015, high-ranking members of the ruling BJP party, including the party's president Amit Shah, called for a nationwide anti-conversion law."

But USCIRF, at whose recommendation the State Department had revoked Modi's visa in 2005 for his alleged complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots, on Thursday described, Modi's statement on religious freedom as a "positive development".

"This statement is notable given longstanding allegations that, as chief minister of Gujarat in 2002, Modi was complicit in anti-Muslim riots in that state," it said referring to his remarks at an event honouring Indian Catholic saints in mid-February.

Modi's visa was revoked under a provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act that makes any foreign government official who "was responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom" ineligible for a US visa.

"Prime Minister Modi remains the only person known to have been denied a visa based on this provision," USCIRF noted.

USCIRF also referred to President Barack Obama's remarks on India's religious freedom issues during his January visit to India and again in February at the US National Prayer Breakfast that caused an uproar in India.

Obama, it recalled "underscored the importance of religious freedom to India's success, urging the country to not be asplintered along the lines of religious faith".
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