This Article is From Dec 27, 2013

Narendra Modi should not apply for US visa, says BJP's Arun Jaitley

Narendra Modi should not apply for US visa, says BJP's Arun Jaitley
New Delhi: BJP leader Arun Jaitley has said that the party's prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, should not apply for a US visa, even though a court in Gujarat has ruled that he will not be prosecuted for alleged collusion in the 2002 riots that tore through Gujarat during his first term as chief minister. (Read full text of the blog here)

In 2005, the US revoked Modi's visa over the riots.

Mr Jaitley said today, "My personal advice also has been that he  (Modi) should not apply for a US visa. The American stance on the issue has clearly been one determined by their 'kangaroo court'. To proclaim Modi guilty even when there was no evidence against him despite investigations and re-investigation amounts to immature diplomacy. It constitutes interference in India's internal affairs."

Yesterday, a Gujarat court upheld the result of an investigation that cleared  Mr Modi of complicity in riots in 2002.  Hours later, he tweeted "Satyamev Jayate! Truth alone triumphs."

A special team appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate the role of Modi and 62 other people in the violence said in a report in 2012 it could find no evidence to prosecute the chief minister.

Most importantly, it cleared Mr Modi of the damaging allegation that he had told senior officials to allow Hindu mobs to vent their anger after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was torched, prompting a wave of reprisal attacks. At least 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims.

Zakia Jafri, the widow of a former Congress parliamentarian Ehsan Jafri who was killed by rioters along with dozens of neighbours, had filed a protest petition against the team's report in April.

The court rejected her petition, saying there was no evidence to prosecute Modi.

Mrs Jafri's lawyers and supporters said they would take the case to a higher court within a month.

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