Modi could get US Visa - WSJ

The candidate leading in the polls to become the next prime minister of India this year has not been allowed to enter the U.S. since 2005, when the U.S. State Department revoked his tourist visa following allegations by human rights groups that he was complicit in deadly anti-Muslim riots.

But a congressional report, released Friday, says that political obstacle for Narendra Modi is likely to vanish should his party win national elections that begin in just over a week. The State Department likely would grant Mr. Modi a visa under diplomatic immunity granted to heads of state, the Congressional Research Service said.

Uncertainty had surrounded the State Department’s position as recently as two weeks ago when Secretary of State John Kerry was asked about Mr. Modi and the visa issue at a U.S. House hearing. Mr. Kerry sidestepped the question, saying he didn’t “want anything I say here to have any play into the election.”

The CRS report states, “If Narendra Modi were to become Prime Minister of India, he would he would he would automatically be eligible for an A-1 (diplomatic) as head of state, regardless of the purpose his visit.” Mr. Modi’s inadmissibility under a tourist visa would not apply to those on A-1 visas, a provision often referred to as diplomatic immunity, the report states.

A representative of Mr. Modi’s party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Mr. Modi’s BJP is ahead in the polls leading up to parliamentary elections that begin in about a week.

As many as 2,000 people, most of them Muslim, died in the 2002 riots in Gujarat, the coastal Indian state that Mr. Modi governs as chief minister. Mr. Modi, a Hindu, was accused of failing to take preventative steps to contain the violence and of deliberately interfering in the police response.

The State Department denied Mr. Modi a visa based upon a provision of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, which requires barring foreign government officials who have committed “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

The Gujarat High Court in 2012 chastised Mr. Modi for “inaction and negligence” during the violence. But a special investigative team appointed by the Indian Supreme Court the same year stated there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Mr. Modi for any alleged wrongdoing.

The report by the Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan arm of the Library of Congress, was dated March 18, but was not released publicly until Friday. It was an answer to questions posed by two members of Congress, Reps. Joe Pitts (R., Pa.) and Keith Ellison (D., Minn.), co-sponsors of a resolution commending the State Department for exercising its authority to deny the visa because “the Gujarat government has not adequately pursued justice for the victims of the 2002 violence.”

Mr. Modi’s visa has become a hotly debated issue in the U.S. Congress. On one side, religious and human rights groups, including many conservative Christians, are outraged by Gujarat’s anti-religious conversion law that restricts proselytizing. It also has the support of Muslims, such as Mr. Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress. On the other side are Indian-Americans, many of whom are Hindus, and conservatives who support the free-market, pro-business tilt of Mr. Modi and his party.

Also on Friday, the U.S. congressional human-rights commission announced a hearing for next week that will feature some of Mr. Modi’s vociferous critics in Washington. A member from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and a representative from Human Rights Watch are expected to appear as witnesses. Both organizations have condemned Mr. Modi’s actions during the 2002 riots. more