Democratic Party's vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz had co-sponsored resolution critical of Narendra Modi, but changed tune after he became PM

New York, August 7

Democratic Party's vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz had co-sponsored when he was in Congress, a resolution praising the US government's decision to deny Prime Minister Narendra Modi the visa when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

But after PM Modi's election as Prime Minister, Walz had a change of heart.

After attending PM Modi's 2016 address to the joint session of Congress, Walz tweeted, "Joint session with Indian PM @narendramodi. World's largest & oldest democracies together. Opportunity to strengthen work on common goals."

Prime Minister Modi tweeted back, "Absolutely Representative Walz. Strong India-USA ties benefit the world immensely."

The resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives in November 2013, but before the end of its term in 2014, Modi was elected Prime Minister and the administration of US President Barack Obama was scrambling to make peace with him.

It was not taken up by the House and quietly died in the Judicial and Foreign Affairs Committees and the Immigration Subcommittee it had been referred to.

Prime Minister Modi became a feted guest of Obama who had invited him for a visit to Washington in September 2014.

Before being elected the Governor of Minnesota in 2019, Walz served six terms in the House, starting in 2007.

Pennsylvania Republican Joseph Pitts introduced the resolution and Walz was among the 51 co-sponsors.

The resolution, HR 417 of the 113th session of Congress, went under the long innocuous-sounding title of ‘Praising India's rich religious diversity and commitment to tolerance and equality, and reaffirming the need to protect the rights and freedoms of religious minorities’.

The resolution said it "commends the US government for exercising its authority in 2005 under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to deny a US visa to Narendra Modi on the grounds of religious freedom violations".

Walz's co-sponsored resolution said it sought to recognise "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".