Tuesday, March 22 2005 09:30 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The United States last night (Mar 21, 2005) hoped that the denial of its visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would not affect bilateral ties with India.

Asked to comment on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president L K Advani's remark that the denial of visa to Modi would affect Indo-US relations, American Ambassador to India David C Mulford told CNBC, "I'm sorry to hear that this sort of thing, where there is a clear case to be made, will damage relations between two major democracies."

"We had a record of relationship with BJP. That's been outstanding. We think it has been an important factor in helping to improve US-India relations in recent years and we would expect that these relations would continue," he told the interviewer Karan Thapar.

Asked to react on Indian Government's regretting the US' sticking to revise its denial of visa to Modi, Mulford said, "I'm sorry they regret it. They also made the statement that it is in some way disrespectful to the Constitution and to the sanctity of public life."

"But once again I would say that in case of US law it applies to foreign Government officials whether elected or appointed and we have the same standard in the US for our officials and they are not protected just because they hold an elected or political office," he said.

Advani on the other side says that the denial of visa to Narendra Modi has come as "a blessing in disguise" for the Gujarat Chief Minister as it prompted the whole country to rally behind him.

"Whosoever has decided to deny visa to Modi was not clever because it was helpful to us, it helped us to increase self-respect and was also a sort of challenge," he said addressing a centenary celebration.

"I want to thank those denied him visa because they gave such an opportunity that the whole country cutting across party lines rallied behind him. People who had been highly critical of him had also supported him," Advani said.

The BJP president said that the address Modi delivered via satellite link to an Indian-American audience yesterday was very well received and had a "tremendous impact" only because of the controversy.

Advani also envisioned a future in which Indians achieved such pre-eminence because of growing self-respect that Americans queued up for visas to visit India and Gujarat.