by Pratap Chakravarty
NEW DELHI - The United States Monday refused to reverse a decision to bar rightwing leader Narendra Modi, prompting India to call the step contrary to the democratic objectives shared by the two countries.
US ambassador David Mulford said that since Modi belonged to the category of "foreign government officials responsible for, or (who) directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violation of religious freedom" he cannot be granted a visa.
Mulford's statement came two days after Premier Manmohan Singh urged Washington to reconsider its decision on Modi, who is accused of complicity in a massacre of hundreds of Muslims in the western state of Gujarat.
"The (Indian) ministry of external affairs requested that the (US) Department of State review the decision to revoke his tourist/business visa. Upon review, the State Department reaffirmed the original decision," Mulford said.
He said the decision was not aimed at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of former premier Atal Behari Vajpayee, which was ousted after elections last May.
India said it "regretted" that despite a diplomatic protest, the US refused to offer a visa to Modi, re-elected chief minister of Gujarat in polls held after the 2002 riots.
"The government do not find this decision by the US in keeping with the objectives India and the United States share as democratic countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.
The BJP said the US refusal could hurt India-US relations.
"The US did not even have the courtesy of heeding to the request made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and such rigidity does not augur well for friendly relations between the two countries," BJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.
Hardline Hindu groups allied with the BJP last week attacked a Pepsi and a Coca-Cola warehouse and burnt an effigy of US President George W. Bush after Modi was denied a visa.
Modi was to have visited Florida this week at the invitation of a Gujarati-dominated hotel owners' association.
He has been accused by opposition and rights groups of doing little as chief minister to stop riots in Gujarat in which up to 2,000 Muslims were killed.
The riots were triggered after claims that a Muslim mob torched a train carrying Hindus at Godhra, killing 59 people. A subsequent official report said the train fire was an accident.
Apart from cancelling Modi's existing visa, the United States also refused him a diplomatic visa, saying his planned visit did not qualify him for diplomatic status.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest US Muslim civil liberties group, has applauded Washington's decision.
03/21/2005 14:07 GMT