Walz co-sponsored a congressional resolution criticizing Modi, but changed his tune after he became prime minister

By Arul Louis

New York – Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz co-sponsored a resolution while in Congress welcoming the US government's decision to deny Prime Minister Narendra Modi a visa when he was chief minister of Gujarat.

But after Modi was elected prime minister of India, Walz changed his mind.

After attending Prime Minister Modi’s address to the joint session of Congress in 2016, Walz tweeted: “Joint session with Indian Prime Minister @narendramodi. The world’s largest and oldest democracies together. An opportunity to strengthen work on common goals.”

Prime Minister Modi responded on Twitter: “Absolutely, Representative Walz. Strong India-US ties benefit the world immensely.”

The resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives in November 2013, but before his term ended in 2014, Prime Minister Modi was elected prime minister and the administration of US President Barack Obama sought to make peace with him.

The bill failed to make it to the House floor and died quietly in the Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees and the Immigration subcommittee to which it had been referred.

Prime Minister Modi became Obama's guest of honour, having invited him to visit Washington in September 2014, rendering the visa issue moot.

Before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2019, Walz served six terms in the House, starting in 2007.

Pennsylvania Republican Joseph Pitts introduced the resolution, and Walz was among its 51 co-sponsors.

The resolution, HR 417 of the 113th session of Congress, bore the long-innocuous title of “Commending India’s rich religious diversity and its commitment to tolerance and equality, and reaffirming the need to protect the rights and freedoms of religious minorities.”

The resolution says it “commends the U.S. government for exercising its authority in 2005, under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, to deny a U.S. visa to Prime Minister Narendra Modi because of religious freedom violations.”

Quoting a report from Tehelka magazine, the resolution said that during the 2002 Gujarat riots, “many people who participated in the violence said that it was possible only because of the connivance of the state police and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.”

He said that in Godhra, “58 Hindus were burnt alive in a train carriage fire, and communal violence broke out in several cities of Gujarat.”

It was not clear who was responsible for the fire.

The resolution states that “contrary to the tolerant and pluralistic traditions of the Hindu faith, certain strands of the Hindu nationalist movement have advanced an agenda of division and violence that has damaged the social fabric of India.”

The resolution co-sponsored by Walz said it sought to recognize “the suffering of all Indian citizens who have been victims of religious violence, including victims of all faiths during the Babri Masjid riots of 1992, the Gujarat riots of 2002, the Odisha riots of 2008, and the violence that continues today.”

It was a symbolic rebuke of what he called “the Hindu nationalist movement” and did not include any sanctions or calls for any action by the U.S. government.

Narendra Modi was denied a diplomatic visa when Republican George W. Bush was president and Condoleezza Rice was secretary of state.

His tourist/business permit was revoked and the U.S. State Department declined a request from the State Department to review the decision, according to David Mulford, who was the U.S. ambassador to New Delhi.

In a statement at the time, Mulford denied that the action was aimed at the BJP or the Gujarati community.

“The United States is deeply grateful for the role played by the BJP, and particularly the (Prime Minister Atal Behari) Vajpayee government, in paving the way for a positive transformation in US-India relations,” he said, adding that the US had “great respect” for the many Gujaratis who have succeeded in the US. (IANS)