Once banned from the U.S., India’s Modi set for historic address to Congress

[Disir]

On June 8, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, the fifth Indian prime minister to do so. It will be a historic moment in the career of the 65-year-old politician, born the son of a tea seller in western India, a stunning turnaround for a man once banned from entering the United States.

Modi, a Hindu nationalist, was denied a visa to enter the United States in 2005 on religious-freedom grounds, stemming from allegations that he tacitly supported Hindu extremists during Hindu-Muslim riots in his home state in 2002. A panel appointed by the Indian Supreme Court eventually ruled that there was no evidence to charge Modi with a crime, but the incident has continued to haunt his career, even after he became prime minister in 2014.

Here is a look at his extraordinary rise:
Once banned from the U.S., India’s Modi set for historic address to Congress

One stop on the five nation tour.

 

[Picaro]

The growing belligerence of Iran, the Terrorist gangs running around in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the Chinese saber-rattling is driving India from its traditional neutrality into an alliance with the U.S. I'm glad to see it. They should continue their history of keeping the multi-nationals at arm's length though, as should every other country on the planet; those corporations are little more than the modern versions of pirate ships raiding and plundering, and have no interest in any principles but looting.