The United States has lifted a decade-old visa ban on Narendra Modi while President Barack Obama personally called and invited India’s prime minister in waiting to visit Washington.
“The prime minister of India will be welcomed to the United States. As head of government, Mr Modi would be eligible for an A-1 visa,” said US State Department’s spokesperson Jen Psaki when asked to explain Mr Modi’s visa status.
The United States distanced itself from Mr Modi after the 2002 riots in his state of Gujarat that killed more than 2,000 people, mostly Muslims.
US officials refused to meet Mr Modi and in 2005, the United States denied him a visa after human rights groups accused him of not moving to halt the carnage.
President Obama told Mr Modi that he looks forward to cooperating closely to deepen the relationship between the US and the world’s largest democracy.
Mr Modi was decisively elected India’s next leader in what the White House described as the “largest free and fair election in human history.”
