Thread by @joyopal

If the BBC Documentary is to be blocking, we may want to think about blocking the US Congressional records as well, since a number of documents publicly available, including a bill introduced in Congress, say roughly the same thing about Modi's role in the riots.

A thread.

The first major document to call out Modi specifically was the "International Religious Freedom Report 2002" - here is a link, hosted at the US State Department page.

The report notes US Consular officials traveled to Ahmedabad after the riots

2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/…

Modi again featured in the 2003 report which focused on the failure of conviction of Hindu defendants and the police closing files on some of the key cases due to lack of evidence.

2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/…

On the US State Dept site, Modi features in the Religious Freedom report later years as well

But more importantly, in 2005 a US Representative introduced a bill to condemn Modi. It is unusual for a state politician from a foreign country to get such attention in the US Congress

The bill, introduced by Democrat John Conyers of MI on March 15, 2005 took direct aim at Modi.

congress.gov/bill/109th-con…

The same week, the bill got a co-sponsor from the Republican side, Joseph Pitts of PA, brought back as house resolution 160 for 2005.

The bill specifically called out the International Religious Freedom act.

congress.gov/bill/109th-con…

Within three days of the first introduction of the Bill, on March 18, 2005, the US State Department had declined Modi's visa.

2001-2009.state.gov/p/sca/rls/rm/2…

Two weeks later, Modi again featured in the US Congress, this time mentioned by NY Democratic Representative Edolphus Towns, who called out the burning of a Pepsi plant in India in retaliation for Modi's visa cancellation.

govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CR…

Indeed, several competing factors bring or block rights issues in other countries to the US Congress, and in his speech in the house Towns' highlighted a line by Modi "Let us pledge to work for such a day that an American would have to stand in line for entry into Gujarat"

But the point is, The #BBCdocumentary just shows us the UK's internal position on Modi's role in Gujarat, these documents suggest the US concurred. There may or may not be similar documents in other countries.

If this was a conspiracy theory, lots of people bought into it.