01, Mar 2005

In March 2005, Narendra Modi had applied for a diplomatic visa to visit the United States. The United States Department of State denied Modi this visa under section 214 (b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act because he was not coming for a purpose that qualified for a diplomatic visa.

Moreover, Modi’s existing tourist/business visa was also revoked under section 212 (a) (2) (g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Section 212 (a) (2) (g) 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 visa to the United States.”

The administration officials told rediff.com that the State Department had done “a strict interpretation of the law and we do believe he is responsible as head of the state government for the performance of the state institutions, which we had detailed extensively in our global human rights reports.”

It also quoted the NHRC Report (2002) which stated that there was “a comprehensive failure on the part of the state government to control the persistent violation of rights of life, liberty, equality, and dignity of the people of the state.”