South Asian foreign policy of the Narendra Modi government irritant remained with the new administration's go ahead of a US$1.4b Chinese project for developing a 'port-city' off the Colombo harbor undermining India's security concerns. Indian Prime Minister visited Sri Lanka at the invitation of President Maithripala Sirisena and concluded his two-day official visit on Saturday 14 March 2015. Modi's visit is the first time in 28 years that an Indian prime minister has visited Sri Lanka. Modi has long been considered as a hardliner nationalist against enemy forces across the border sponsoring terrorist attacks in India while he was Chief Minister of Gujarat, a state bordering Pakistan, but post-election
Narendra Modi reaching out to North Indian Muslims before the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. After the elections Vajpayee called the violence in Gujarat a reason for the BJP's electoral defeat and said it had been a mistake to leave Modi in office after the riots. Questions about Modi's relationship with Muslims were also raised by many Western nations during his tenure as chief minister. Modi was barred from entering the United States by the State Department, in accordance with the recommendations of the Commission on International Religious Freedom formed under the aegis of the International Religious Freedom Act, the only person denied