Washington, USA - India on Friday slammed a U.S. decision to revoke a visa for the Hindu-nationalist chief minister of Gujarat state over his role in 2002 religious riots that killed hundreds of Muslims.
India's foreign ministry said the move showed a lack of courtesy and sensitivity. The chief minister, a leader of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, called the decision an insult to India.
The request by Chief Minister Narendra Modi for a diplomatic visa to travel to the United States was denied and his existing tourist/business visa was revoked, an embassy spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
With the U.S. ambassador out of town, his deputy was summoned to the foreign ministry "to lodge a strong protest ... and to request an urgent reconsideration," the External Affairs ministry said.
"This action ... is uncalled for and displays lack of courtesy and sensitivity toward a constitutionally elected chief minister of a state of India," the ministry said in a statement, expressing the government's "deep concern and regret."
External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh said the ministry had recommended a multiple-entry visa for Modi in a letter to the U.S. Embassy, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Modi called the U.S. decision "an insult to India and its constitution."
"The United States can't impose its laws on other countries. In the same way, India should deny visas to U.S. officials as a protest against Washington's policies in Iraq," Modi said.
The embassy spokesman said a U.S. law that makes any foreign government official who "was responsible for or directly carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of religious freedom" made Modi ineligible for a visa.
The religious riots in Gujarat in 2002, which killed some 1,000 people _ mostly Muslims _ were sparked by an attack on a train car in which 60 Hindus returning from a religious pilgrimage were burned to death. Muslim mobs were blamed for the fire.
But human rights groups accused Modi's Bharatiya Janata party-led state government of doing little to stop the violence, and the Supreme Court criticized its lenient handling of Hindus accused of slaughtering Muslims.
The embassy official also said Modi "was denied a diplomatic visa under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act because he was not coming for the purpose that qualified for a diplomatic visa." He did not elaborate.
Modi had been scheduled to address a meeting in New York this weekend organized by an association of motel owners. He had also planned to meet with overseas Indians in Florida and in New Jersey.