US embassy says it looks forward to working closely with next Indian government

13 Feb 2014; Washington D.C.: US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC), the leading advocacy organization representing over 3 million Indian Americans in the US appreciated the meeting between US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell and BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. The meeting was part of the US Mission’s outreach to senior leaders of India’s major political parties in advance of the upcoming national elections. During her visit to Gujarat, Ambassador Powell is also scheduled to meet with representatives from non-governmental organizations and US and Indian businesses.

It may be noted that USINPAC in the month of December had successfully led a grassroots lobbying effort in Washington DC to stop H.R 417 from going to the House floor. The resolution intended to influence India’s upcoming elections by focusing on the 2002 Gujarat riots some 11 years after the fact, and was specifically targeted at Mr. Modi. His visa was revoked in 2005 under the provisions of a domestic law on the issue of “severe violations of religious freedom”.

USINPAC Chairman, Sanjay Puri, reacting positively to this meeting said, “With Mr. Modi emerging as the frontrunner for the prime minister’s post, the US could no longer continue with its policy of shunning the person against whom it had clamped a visa ban in the aftermath of the 2002 riots. So, this meeting between Ambassador Powell and Mr. Modi is definitely a step in the right direction.”