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After Narendra Modi's successful visit, RTI activist says his query on visa issue still a moment in history

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Prime minister Narendra Modi's triumphant trip to the United States will be recorded in the annals of the PMO. But the same PMO had not taken up the issue of denial of visa to Modi by the US government in 2005 even after Modi wrote a letter to then prime minister Manmohan Singh, asking him to take up the issue "seriously with the American government."

Modi wrote to Singh on March 18, 2005, when he was chief minister of Gujarat. On January 11, 2011, RTI activist and Delhi resident Mannish Bhatnaggar filed an application with the PMO, seeking information on Modi's letter to Singh.

In his letter, Modi expressed his displeasure at being denied a US visa, and surprise at the reason given. "We are even more surprised by the reason given for this rejection which amounts to my indictment for serious violation of religious freedom," Modi wrote. "The US government has no reason to come to any inference on violation of religious freedom...kindly take up this issue seriously with the American government in the interest of sovereignty and independence of the country."

Bhatnaggar sought answers to: Is the PM aware of denial of US visa to Gujarat CM? Two, has any displeasure (been) communicated or any query sought from the US by the PMO on the issue? Three, has any step been taken by the PMO to take the issue to an international forum, or take it up with the US?

The PMO replied on January 28, 2011. While it acknowledged the receipt of Modi's letter dated March 18, 2005, to the second and third questions, it said: "The information sought is not a matter of record held by this office."

Last week Bhatnaggar pulled out his RTI application and the PMO's answers to it after a US court issued summons to Modi a day before he left for the United States. "Those summons were never served and Modi has returned to India, but his letter to Manmohan Singh, my RTI queries and the PMO's replies to them are a moment in history. They have value," Bhatnaggar told dna.

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