Says US working hard to rev up ties after Devyani episode
US Secretary of State John Kerry has declined to comment on the vexed issue of granting visa to BJP's prime ministerial candidate and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, now that India is bracing for general elections.
"I am not going to comment on that part of it, if you do not mind, simply because it is before the election and I do not want anything I say here to have any play into the election in any way that it should or should not," Kerry said at a hearing of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on Thursday.
He was responding to Republican Congressman George Holding, who pointedly asked him about the setback the US might face because of its denial of visa to Modi, given the predictions that he would be forming the next Government in New Delhi.
As the Congressman put it to Kerry, "What are you doing to put us at a good place in our relations with India, with the BJP GovernmentIJ And how much do you think we will have as a setback the issue with Modi's visa status and us denying a visa to himIJ And where do you see that we sit with that right nowIJ"
While avoiding comment on the visa issue, Kerry broadly dealt with the other aspects of US-India relations, saying: "It is a very important relationship…We respect that democracy, respect India. We have worked hard to get over the hiccup we had recently with respect to a diplomat in New York. Our Assistant Secretary (Nisha Desai Biswal) has just returned from a trip to India.
Speaking of India's importance in terms of the region and globally, Kerry said: "We are very, very anxious. It is a very important relationship."