Washington warms up to Modi

Signalling a departure from its nine-year stand on boycotting Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi over the Godhra riots, the United States has finally reached out to him.

US ambassador to India Nancy Powell is expected to meet him in Gandhinagar on Thursday.

BJP sources said Modi has accepted Powell’s formal request for a meeting. Powell is scheduled to arrive in Ahmedabad on Wednesday evening and meet Modi at his residence the next day.

Neither the embassy nor the BJP spoke about the agenda of the meeting.  In Washington, however, a US State Department spokesman confirmed the meeting.  "This is part of our concerted outreach to senior political and business leaders, which began in November to highlight the US-India relationship," a news agency quoted the spokesperson as saying.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told journalists in New Delhi that it was normal for foreign diplomats to seek appointments to meet “constitutionally elected leaders”. He said the MEA had facilitated the meeting as a routine practice after receiving a request from the US Embassy in New Delhi “quite sometime back”.

It is learnt that US embassy officials also held discussions with some Gujarat government officials, laying the ground for the one-on-one between Modi and Powell.  The move has brought glee to the faces of BJP leaders, who view it as the US acknowledging Modi’s growing popularity ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Welcoming the US move, BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad said: “Anyone is welcome to meet Modi. But for what purpose, that you should find out with the American embassy.” He also said the BJP and Modi did not need “the US blessing”, but the people’s support, which they had in abundance. 

US authorities had cancelled Modi’s visa in 2005 for "severe violation of religious freedom", in the wake of the communal riots in Gujarat.