WASHINGTON  - A Congressional resolution, which was submitted in the US House of Representatives Wednesday, calls on Washington to continue denying an entry visa to Narendra Modi, the extremist Hindu leader and BJP’s candidate for the prime ministership of India, on the grounds of religious freedom violations.
Modi’s visa denial stems from his role in the 2002 horrific religious riots in the Indian state of Gujarat in which over 2,000 Muslims were killed.
The bipartisan resolution also demands that India to protect the rights and freedoms of religious minorities and asked the US government to include the matter as part of the bilateral Strategic Dialogue.
The resolution introduced by Congressmen Keith Ellison - the first Muslim to be elected to Congress - from the Democratic Party and Joe Pitts from the Republican Party and co-sponsored by over a dozen other lawmakers, calls on the State Department to continue the policy of denying Modi, the Gujarat Chief Minister, a US visa.  The sponsors of the resolution commend “the United States Government for exercising its authority in 2005 under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to deny a United States visa to Narendra Modi on the grounds of religious freedom violations, and encourages it to review the applications of any individuals implicated in religious freedom violations under the same standard.”
This resolution’s strong bipartisan support shows that the rights of religious minorities in India are a priority for the US Congress,” said Ellison after introducing the resolution which has been sent to the House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Asia and the Pacific for necessary action.
“All Indians should have the right to practice their faith freely, or to change their faith if they so choose. India is big enough for all its citizens.
Its best leaders have worked to promote unity among its diverse populations, not division,” Ellison said in a statement.
“The victims of events like the riots in Gujarat demand justice,” Congressman Pitts said.
The sponsors of the resolution express concern over incidents of violence against minorities and call for religious freedom and related human rights to be included in the United States–India Strategic Dialogue, and for these issues to be raised directly with federal and state Indian Government officials.
The resolution commends the role of India’s National Human Rights Commission and the Indian Supreme Court, which has led to some convictions in Gujarat riot cases and the arrest of a few high-level leaders in the Gujarati administration.
Among other matters, the resolution asks India to increase training on human rights and religious freedom standards and practices for police and the judiciary, particularly in states with a history or likelihood of communal violence.
More importantly, it calls on Gujarat and other Indian states with anti-conversion laws to repeal such legislation and ensure freedom to practice, propagate, and profess ones’ religion as enshrined in the Indian constitution.
The lawmakers backing the resolution also urge New Delhi to empower the National Commission on Minorities with enforcement mechanisms, such as the ability to conduct trials and hear appeals.
The resolution cites acts of violence against Muslims, Christians and other minorities and recognizes the “suffering of all Indian citizens who have been victims of religious violence, including the victims of all faiths from the 1992 Babri Mosque riots, the 2002 Gujarat riots, the 2008 Odisha riots, and violence that is ongoing today.”