The then US embassy spokesperson and a recently retired foreign secretary were my guests in a TV studio when on March 16, 2005, House Resolution 160 was introduced in the US Congress, condemning Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi “for his actions to incite religious persecution.”
On March 18, the US State Department denied Mr Modi a visa. Three days later, the spokesperson, who later moved on to NATO, sent us a statement from US Ambassador to India, David C. Mulford. “This decision applies to Mr Narendra Modi only. It is based on the fact that, as head of the State Government in Gujarat between February 2002 and May 2002, he was responsible for the performance of State institutions at that time,” the ambassador had said.
It didn’t seem to matter what our Foreign Office or even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were protesting on the US’ “selective judgment” and disregard of the fact that Mr Modi was a democratically elected leader. later, three Republicans members of US Congress visited Mr Modi in Gujarat, including Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington State. The trip was reportedly supported by the National Indian American Public Policy Institute, Shalli Kumar, a backer of Mr Modi based in Chicago.
But the opposition to the Gujarat CM continued to be led by the Republicans. This was evident from House Resolution 417, which urged the US Government to continue denying Mr Modi a visa. Climbing down from their law that bans foreign officials deemed (purportedly) responsible for severe violation of religious freedom, the State department seems to have finally smelled the coffee.
Nancy Powell, the US ambassador for two years, now wants to meet Mr Modi – a first such formal request since the ban in March 2005. Various interlocutors deserve the credit. Foremost, however, is the cold fact that with the ‘son’ not rising, the US wants to salute ‘the rising sun’ instead! Ruthless diplomatic actors that they have been in the last 67 years, the Americans are among the shrewdest in the game of reading the tea leaves. They’ve taken all these years only because they have to answer more questions than, say, the Chinese and the EU folks have had to before their human rights lobbies.
To reach here, US commercial interests in Gujarat have played a clinching role. It was part of a calibrated design that US-India Business Chamber chief Ron Somers described Wharton’s last-minute cancellation of invitation to Mr Modi as, “unfortunate and disrespectful.”
“Since when is an American University against free speechIJ” Somers sighed, choosing not only to show up at Vibrant Gujarat 2013, but to describe Gujarat’s progress during 2001-2013 as “stunning..(and) where progress trumps politics.” **
Superimpose this to what a State department spokesperson said after Mr Modi’s victory in the last State elections: “Gujarat remains an important state for American investment, and has shown itself to be a very welcoming environment where American businesses flourish.”
“We continue to promote and encourage investment there, and we continue to engage with Gujarat across a broad range of issues: trade, investment, energy, university linkages, and people-to-people exchanges.”
Besides commercial drivers, Powell is known to pay attention to social media trends. (Remember how she chose to introduce herself to India via youtube!***) It isn’t hard to imagine that dossiers on where India may be headed after the General Elections capture what Ms Poweel’s social media team is hearing via Mr Modi’s twitter.
That said, it might be a serious mistake for Mr Modi’s advisors to link the issue of visa and Ms Powell’s call on. Since 9/11, the visa regime in the US has become a complicated maneuver involving not just the state department, which is the local ambassador’s boss, but also the department of justice and the department of homeland security.
For dummies, the ambassador in New Delhi is only the public face of the visa granting process##.
There are sufficient elements of grey where Powell can claim to be wringing her hands in (helplessIJ) despair.
**http://www.youtube.com/watchIJv=aJc7liS97-c
*** http://www.youtube.com/watchIJv=U5KkmehoixQ&feature=share
## https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R41093.pdf
(The columnist is CEO & Co-Folunder, India Strategy Group, Hammurabi & Solomon Consulting. Follow @therohitbansal).