New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will not be given a visa to the United States if he applies for one.
The US State Department has said it would not grant visa to Modi for attending the ongoing three-day World Gujarati Conference for his alleged complicity in the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in the State.
Though there is no visa application of Modi, pending with them, the state department, in a letter to a Congresswoman, said it was aware of the human rights abuses Modi has allegedly committed.
Modi had been denied a visa earlier in 2002 after the Gujarat riots.
The American decision was conveyed in a letter to Congresswoman Betty McCollum. The Conference is being held in New Jersey this weekend.
On July 8, the Democratic lawmaker had petitioned the State department against issuing a visa for Modi and a reply to this was sent by Mathew Reynolds, the Assistant secretary of State for Legislative Affairs.
"The Department of State is extremely sensitive to your concerns and we are cognizant of the human rights abuses Modi has committed," Reynolds has said in his reply that has been circulated by the CAG, a diverse spectrum of groups and individuals in the US and Canada that have come together in response to the Gujarat 2002 riots to demand justice.
"We have thoroughly searched Department records and located no current non-immigrant visa applications for Modi.However, should we receive an application, we assure you it will be adjudicated in strict accordance with the Immigration and Naturalisation Act," the official said.
Commenting on the letter, Hyder Khan of the CAG said "the current response from the State Department has virtually made Narendra Modi a persona non grata to the US."
It has been pointed out that about 32 lawmakers have so far written letters to the State Department expressing concern over human rights abuses in Gujarat, asking denial of US visa to Modi, the CAG said.
The current response from the State Department has made Modi a persona non grata to the US.
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