American Republicans Visit Modi in Gujarat

Courtesy of Bharatiya Janata Party Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, center, meeting with a U.S. Congressional and business delegation in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on Thursday.

Gandhinagar, GUJARAT â€"A group of Republican representatives from the United States Congress traveled to Gujarat Thursday to meet the state’s controversial chief minister, Narendra Modi.

Representatives Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Aaron Schock of Illinois and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington all said they were eager to work with Gujarat, according to a statement on Mr. Modi’s Web site.

Despite strong support for Mr. Modi from the Gujarati-American community, the United States has not issued Mr. Modi a visa, and a planned video address at a Wharton business school conference was canceled this month, a reflection of lingering questions over the role he may have played in the 2002 riots that left hundreds dead, mostly Muslims.

Last year, a bipartisan group of United States Congress members urged then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a letter to continue to deny Mr. Modi a visa on “numerous reports of his involvement in horrific human rights violations in India.”

The delegation’s visit on Thursday was part of a several-day India tour, in conjunction with the Overseas Friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the statement said.

“The members were impressed by the great development Gujarat has made under Modi’s visionary leadership,” Vijay Rupani, the state Bharatiya Janata Party’s general secretary, said in an interview.

During the meeting, Mr. Modi invoked Mohandas K. Gandhi, who was born and raised in Gujarat, and called for the strengthening of democratic processes in both India and the United States.

“Mahatma Gandhi has been and is the biggest lighthouse in this journey,” he said. “Gujarat, being the land of Gandhi, believes in these principles and has been at the forefront of nurturing such ideals and leading its people on the path of growth.”

Mr. Rupani hailed the lawmakers’ visit as a sign of burgeoning American support for Mr. Modi.

“The delegation’s Gujarat visit is a lesson to, and a slap on the face of, those elements busy exercising denying the U.S. visa to Modi,” Mr. Rupani said. “A majority of the Americans are pleased with the work Modi has done for the development of Gujarat over the years.”