Notwithstanding the US government’s consistent denial of a visa to him after the 2002 anti-Muslim riots, an American congressional delegation which met Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi Thursday in Ahmedabad invited him to visit their country. Republican Congressman Aaron Schock, who led the delegation and invited Mr Modi to the US, did not, however, give any assurance on the visa issue. But he said he and other Republicans would work with the US administration to resolve the issue. It was the highest-level US delegation to meet Mr Modi since the riots in 2002. The delegation members said they were “impressed” with Mr Modi’s efforts to transform the state’s economy. Mr Modi had been denied a US visa since 2005. “We extended an invitation to chief minister Modi and requested him to show us what he has achieved in his state,” Mr Schock, who represents Illinois in the US Congress, told reporters in Ahmedabad. Asked if this meant the US state department had changed its stand on the visa issue, Mr Schock said: “Obviously it is a matter of the US administration but we, along with other Republican lawmakers, will work in that direction.”
