NEW DELHI, 20 March 2005 — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged the United States yesterday to reconsider a decision to bar Hindu fundamentalist leader Narendra Modi, who is accused of complicity in a massacre of Muslims.

“The government is... greatly concerned at the decision of the government of the United States” to cancel an existing visa, Manmohan told Parliament. “We have also called for the urgent reconsideration of this decision.”

“It is not a matter of partisan politics, it is a matter of principles,” Manmohan said. “Our government has very clearly pointed out our deep concern and regret over the US decision.

“We have observed that this uncalled for decision (can) be traced to a lack of sensitivity and due courtesy to an elected authority.”

US Embassy spokesman David Kennedy said the mission had forwarded India’s request for a reconsideration to the State Department. He declined to estimate how much time it would take.

Nearly 150 activists from the Bajrang Dal party barged into PepsiCo’s warehouse in Surat city in Gujarat, smashed bottles and set fire to parts of the building, said Dharmesh Joshi, a witness. They also ransacked a nearby PepsiCo office, he said.

The protesters carried placards reading: “Down with the United States,” and “Boycott US goods and the Americans.”

Surat police chief V.K. Gupta confirmed the attack happened, saying that about a dozen workers fled the warehouse when the attack occurred and that fire fighters rushed to the scene and doused the flames.

In Ahmedabad about 100 activists blocked access to the American Center despite a heavy police presence, by breaking bottles on the road to prevent cars and people from entering. The protest lasted one hour.

The women’s wing of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat burned an effigy of US President George W. Bush in Ahmedabad. Protests were also planned for today.

Modi, chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, was to have visited Florida next week at the invitation of a Gujarati-dominated motel owners’ association.

The US State Department said Friday it denied a diplomatic visa and revoked Modi’s existing tourist/business visa under the US Immigration and Nationality Act which bars people responsible for violations of religious freedom from getting a visa.

Spokesman Adam Ereli said the United States was responding to a finding by India’s own National Human Rights Commission that held Modi’s government responsible for the 2002 Hindu-Muslim violence in the state, India’s worst in a decade. About 2,500 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in the violence. Political parties and other rights groups also accused Modi of doing little to stop the violence.