Friday, March 18 2005 15:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today (Mar 18, 2005) hit out at the US for revoking his visa, saying it amounted to an "insult" to India and reflected Washington's effort to show this country in "poor light."

He asked the Central Government to "rise above political considerations" and intervene in the matter. He would write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard, he said.

Maintaining that "no court had given any decision" against his Government or himself on the Gujarat riots issue, Modi said "the one-sided US decision amounts to insult to India's Constitution and self respect."

He said he had got "political clearance" from the Prime Minister and the Central Government before applying for the visa two months ago. Modi questioned the decision to revoke his tourist and business visa existing since 1998 just two days before his travel to the US.

"US decision is totally against democracy, human rights, and violation of judicial norms," Modi said while addressing mediapersons in Ahmedabad.

He said, "I am having my US visa since 1998, and what happened in Gujarat was in 2002. Why did they not cancel my visa earlier?"

"This clearly shows that the intention of America was only to insult and downgrade India," the Gujarat Chief Minister said.

Modi said, "No country can impose its laws on citizens of another country while granting visas. If an America citizen wants to come to India, are we going to question what Americans did in Iraq and deny them visa."

"The ground on which US has denied visa is baseless," he said, questioning the judicial evidence on which the US based its conclusions on an individual's religious freedom?

"It is a matter of the country's prestige and sovereignty. The Government of India should raise its voice (over the development)," Modi said, adding it was the responsibility of the Centre not to allow "insult" of any individual by any country through "illegal" decisions.

Accusing the US of following double standards, Modi asked why Washington had maintained friendly relations with Pakistan despite it being clear that terrorism perpetuated by that country was responsible for ouster of the entire minority Hindu community from Kashmir.

He said minorities in Bangladesh were being persecuted for over 30 years and asked whether the US would deny permission to the Chief of Armed forces of that country to travel to America.

Asserting that Gujarat had been peaceful after the 2002 Godhra incident and subsequent riots, Modi said "subsequently elections were held. This is an elected Government. The US claims to believe in democracy but this attitude proves their statements wrong."

He wondered whom the US Government had consulted before arriving at the decision and questioned whether the American Ambassador had "surrendered to anti-India NGOs and lobbies".