NEW DELHI-
U.S. ambassador to India Nancy Powell will be meeting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Narendra Modi, signaling a softening of the U.S. position since the Hindu nationalist was denied a visa over religious riots.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is considered the favourite to form a government after a general election due by May. He is also the chief minister of Gujarat state, where in 2002, Hindu mobs killed at least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims.
“We can confirm the appointment,” a U.S. embassy spokesman said. “This is part of our concentrated outreach to senior political and business leaders which began in November to highlight the U.S.-India relationship.”
The meeting, which could happen as soon as this week, will be the highest profile encounter between U.S. officials and Modi since the U.S. State Department revoked his visa in 2005 over the riots, which erupted after some Hindus were killed in a fire on a train.
The United States and India have developed a close commercial and strategic relationship over recent years and they share almost $100 billion worth of annual trade. The United States sees India as a regional counterweight to China.
The change in the U.S. position on Modi is likely to anger rights groups and members of the Muslim community who say Modi allowed or even actively encouraged attacks on Muslims in the 2002 riots.
Modi has always denied the accusations, and a Supreme Court inquiry found no evidence to prosecute him.
Britain became the first European country to end an informal boycott on meeting Modi, which had been in place since the riots.
Other European countries followed suit last year.
The U.S. consul general met Modi two years ago, and Republican lawmakers recently visited Gujarat and invited him to the United States. However, as of last year the U.S. State Department said it had not moved to reconsider its stance on the visa.
India and the United States are working to repair the damage done to ties by the recent row over the arrest and strip search of an Indian diplomat in New York, which led to the cancellation of high-level visits and the downgrading of privileges for U.S. envoys in India.