On December 20, 2013, AFPC Director for South Asia Programs and Kraemer Strategy Fellow Jeff M. Smith briefed a group of congressional staff on Capitol Hill regarding U.S.-India relations. The talk was part of a monthly briefing series organized by the Center for Security Policy.
Smith implored the audience to reconsider a longstanding visa ban on Narendra Modi, currently the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat and the leading candidate to be the next Indian prime minister from the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Modi has been denied a U.S. visa since 2005, when human rights organizations effectively lobbied the State Department to bar Mr. Modi from traveling to the U.S. due to a 2002 outbreak of violence in Gujarat (during his first term as Chief Minister.)
Signifigantly, several weeks later the U.S. government approved the first ambassador-level contact with Mr. Modi, and appears set to approve a visa to the U.S. should he apply.
Want these sent to your inbox?
Subscribe