Author: S Rajagopalan
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: February 18, 2005
URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1248344,000900040003.htm
[Note from the Hindu Vivek Kendra:
The author of the report does not inform his reader that IRPP is a Christian
church front.]
Narendra Modi is a lightning rod
not just to his many detractors within India. An American advocacy group
is now spearheading a campaign to see that he is denied a visa for his
planned US sojourn next month.
The Washington DC-based Institute
on Religion and Public Policy (IRPP) is collecting signatures to prevent
Modi from entering US.
Modi is to be the chief guest at
the Asian American Hotel Owners Association's annual convention and trade
show at Fort Lauderdale, Florida from March 24 to 26. The association is
dominated by hoteliers of Indian origin, predominantly from Gujarat.
In a letter addressed to US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice, the IRPP argues that Modi should be denied a
visa in accordance with the US's International Religious Freedom Act of
1998. It charges him with "repeated engagement in particularly severe violations
of religious freedom".
"Secretary Rice, we ask that you
do not allow this egregious violator the privilege of entering the United
States," says the letter written by IRPP's director of programmes Benjamin
Thomas. It says in case Modi already holds a US visa, his entry into the
country should be "barred".
The letter speaks of Modi's "campaign
of extremism targeting religious minorities in Gujarat", particularly the
"orchestrated attacks" of 2002.
