In U-turn, US ambassador Nancy Powell to meet Narendra Modi
WASHINGTON: The US ambassador to India plans to meet BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, an official said on Monday, signalling a turnaround after years of shunning him over anti-Muslim riots.
Ambassador Nancy Powell's encounter with the Gujarat CM would put the United States in line with European nations and Australia, which have already ended the boycott of Modi amid growing indications that he will take the helm of the world's largest democracy in elections due by the end of May.
A state department official confirmed an appointment between Modi and Powell, without specifying a date.
"This is part of our concentrated outreach to senior political and business leaders which began in November to highlight the US-India relationship," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Human rights groups say that Modi turned a blind eye to riots in 2002 that killed up to 2,000 people, most of them Muslims.
The United States in 2005 revoked a visa for Modi under a domestic law that bars entry by any foreign official seen as responsible for "severe violations of religious freedom".
Modi has denied wrongdoing and investigations have cleared him of personal blame, although one of his former ministers was jailed for life for instigating the killing of 97 Muslims.
The United States and India have built a growing relationship since estrangement in the Cold War, with most US lawmakers supportive of ties with New Delhi.
But Modi has faced opposition from an unlikely mix of left-leaning members of the US Congress active on human rights and conservatives concerned over the status of evangelical Christians.
A congressional aide said a meeting with Powell would send a signal of US openness on issuing a visa — an issue on which the United States has little way of changing course unless Modi again applies to travel to the United States.
"A meeting with the ambassador could be a way of signalling, 'You'll get a visa', without having to say it, which she can't," the aide told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Modi has sought to portray himself as a business-savvy leader who can champion India's economy and tackle corruption after a decade of rule by the left-leaning Congress party.
If elected Prime Minister, Modi would be highly unlikely to experience hassles with travel to the United States, which generally allows visits by leaders of friendly countries. For example, President Barack Obama invited his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta, charged by the International Criminal Court over 2007-8 post-election violence, to a US-Africa summit in August.
But some US officials are believed to have worried that bitterness over the past visa rejection would cloud relations with Modi if he becomes Prime Minister.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...o-meet-Narendra-Modi/articleshow/30194694.cms
Chadte Suraj ko sab salam karte hai even US proved this phrase right
