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US softens position on controversial Indian politician Narendra Modi US ambassador to meet Narendra Modi, favourite to be India's next PM
(about 3 hours later)
The US ambassador to India, Nancy Powell, is to meet the politician who could become India's next prime minister, Narendra Modi, signalling a softening of the US position since the Hindu nationalist was denied a visa over religious riots. The US has moved towards ending an almost decade-long embargo on Narendra Modi, a controversial Hindu nationalist politician who could become India's prime minister at elections to be held within months.
Modi's Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is considered the favourite to form a government after a general election due by May. He is also the chief minister of Gujarat state, where in 2002, Hindu mobs killed at least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims. Modi, the candidate of the opposition Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), has been banned from travel to the US for nearly nine years over his role in religious riots that took place in 2002 in Gujarat, the western state which he runs.
Officials in the BJP said on Tuesday that Nancy Powell, the US ambassador to India, is to meet the 63-year-old, perhaps as early as Thursday.
"We can confirm the appointment," a US embassy spokesman said. "This is part of our concentrated outreach to senior political and business leaders which began in November to highlight the US-India relationship.""We can confirm the appointment," a US embassy spokesman said. "This is part of our concentrated outreach to senior political and business leaders which began in November to highlight the US-India relationship."
The meeting, which could happen as soon as this week, will be the highest profile encounter between US officials and Modi since the US state department revoked his visa in 2005 over the riots, which erupted after some Hindus were killed in a fire on a train. Modi came from humble origins to win power in Gujarat more than 12 years ago and is currently campaigning across India in a bid to convert his local success to a victory on the national stage. Recent opinion polls have put him in the lead, though it is unclear if this level of support is sustainable until May when the elections are due.
The United States and India have developed a close commercial and strategic relationship over recent years and they share almost $100bn (£60bn) of annual trade. The United States sees India as a regional counterweight to China. On Thursday, senior BJP figures downplayed the meeting with Powell, indicating some wariness about any perceived US endorsement.
Underscoring growing economic ties, the US carmaker Ford is due to open a plant in Gujarat this year. General Motors already has a production facility there. "It is nothing special. It's just what all the diplomats do to be in touch with the economic and political leadership of the country. It is somehow a recognition that Modi is going to be the next prime minister of the country but it is Indian voters who are going to decide that," said Meenakshi Lekhi, national spokesperson of the BJP.
But the India-US friendship is often problematic, with disputes over market access and a recent row over the behaviour of an Indian diplomat in the United States damaging sentiment in both countries. Indian relations with the US have been rocky recently. A row over the arrest of a diplomat in New York on charges of visa fraud prompted much popular anger and outrage – some genuine – among politicians.
The change in the US position on Modi is likely to anger rights groups and members of the Muslim community who say Modi allowed or even actively encouraged attacks on Muslims in the 2002 riots. The boycott of Modi follows charges that, when chief minister in 2002, he allowed or even encouraged mobs to attack Muslims in towns across Gujarat after a lethal fire, supposedly started by Muslims, on a train full of Hindu pilgrims. More than a thousand people died in the violence and many more were forced from their homes. Modi denies any wrongdoing and a supreme court inquiry found no evidence to prosecute him.
Modi has always denied the accusations, and a supreme court inquiry found no evidence to prosecute him. The Gujarat riots led to a de facto travel ban imposed on Modi by the UK, the US and some European nations, as well as the boycott by senior officials. In 2005, Modi was refused a US visa as someone held responsible for a serious violation of religious freedom.
Britain became the first European country to end an informal boycott on meeting Modi, which had been in place since the riots. Other European countries followed suit last year. Last year Britain ended a 10-year diplomatic boycott imposed on Modi, prompting scathing criticism from some Indian commentators who accused British politicians of seeking to ingratiate themselves with a potential leader of the country.
The US consul-general met Modi two years ago, and Republican lawmakers recently visited Gujarat and invited him to the United States. However, as of last year the US state department said it had not moved to reconsider its stance on the visa. Many in India, including some of the country's most powerful industrialists, say Modi is an effective, honest administrator with ambitions and vision who, having boosted growth in his own state, would reinvigorate India's flagging economy.
Recent rallies held by Modi have drawn huge crowds, with the Congress party –in power since 2004 – seemingly unable to effectively counter his campaign message that India needs a change.
BJP officials said on Thursday that the US first approached Modi's office with a request for a meeting over six weeks ago but the "timing was bad", with India and Washington locked in the row over the fate of the arrested diplomat.
However, with tempers now calmer it was decided that the meeting could go ahead, they said.
"There was no urgency on the part of the BJP for this. There's a sense of eerie inevitability about it. Diplomats don't work in isolation and the context at the moment favours Modi. It's more for the US to explain than for him or his aides," said Swapan Dasgupta, an Indian political commentator and onetime media adviser for the BJP.
Modi has considerable support among the Indian diaspora in the US. The US consul general in India met Modi two years ago, and Republican lawmakers recently visited Gujarat and invited him to the United States. However, the US state department has not moved to reconsider its stance on the visa.
In January, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a government agency which recommended that a visa be denied to Modi in 2005, told Reuters it had not changed its position.In January, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a government agency which recommended that a visa be denied to Modi in 2005, told Reuters it had not changed its position.
Powell will travel to Gujarat's capital, Gandhinagar, to meet Modi in his office, an aide of the candidate told Reuters. It was not clear what would be discussed, but the meeting could happen on Thursday or Friday, a Gujarat official said. Powell will travel to Gujarat's capital, Gandhinagar, to meet Modi in his office, an aide of the candidate told Reuters.
The Hindustan Times newspaper cited a BJP leader as saying the talks would focus on bilateral ties and not Modi's US visa, which is a sensitive subject among his supporters. It was not clear what would be discussed, but the meeting could happen on Thursday or Friday, a Gujarat official said.
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, who is seen a possible candidate for finance minister in a Modi government, was last year quoted by media as saying India should cancel Barack Obama's visa to India if he did not come to Delhi to hand over a visa to Modi. The new warming of relations is unlikely to have much influence on a bitter and noisy election battle, however.
India and the United States are working to repair the damage done to ties by the recent row over the arrest and strip search of an Indian diplomat in New York, which led to the cancellation of high-level visits and the downgrading of privileges for US envoys in India. Rahul Gandhi, the 43-year-old scion of India's first political family, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, is leading the Congress campaign.
Adding another irritant to the relationship, on Monday, the United States said it would take India to the World Trade Organisation to gain a bigger foothold for US manufacturers in its fast-growing solar products market. Gandhi, with his political pedigree, privileged upbringing and distaste for public speaking, is very different from Modi, who is the son of a tea seller and known as one of the country's best performers at the rallies which are a key part of campaigning. Gandhi, a Cambridge graduate and former management consultant, is a mediocre public speaker who has, until very recently, shunned the media.
Opinion polls show Modi's BJP has the edge in the election race but is unlikely to get a majority and may struggle to win enough seats to form a stable coalition government. Analysts expect another coalition government though, and it is possible that Congress or a "third front" could scrape together an unstable alliance with the requisite seats in the national assembly to take power. Even in the event of a significant BJP win, Modi may not be able to lead a coalition government because many other politicians, whether within his party or independent, are wary of his strong leadership style.