WASHINGTON: The antagonistic official US view of Gujarat chief minister and BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is gradually being tempered, seemingly in the light of his frontrunner status to lead India. The subtle changes come amid continuing efforts by his expatriate fan base to exculpate him for the 2002 riots.

US officials, some American lawmakers, and the country’s corporate community at large appear keen to put behind the stigma associated with the controversial politician. They have signaled they are keen to put the 2002 issue behind, a messaging that appears to stem from the perception that the ruling UPA government’s fortunes are in decline and that of Modi is on the upswing.

A recent Goldman Sachs report titled ''Modi-fying our view: raise India to Marketweight'' expressing bullish sentiment on India at the prospect of the Gujarat chief minister becoming prime minister seems has accelerated efforts to resurrect Modi’s reputation. The Goldman Sachs report, which has caused heartburn in the UPA, isn’t the first to speculate on these lines. American lawmakers and policy planners have been primed over the past year for the return of BJP to power at the center, with Modi possibly at the helm as Prime Minister, following what US analysts say is a ''precipitous'' decline in the Congress party’s standing.

A September 1, 2012, report by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS), a bipartisan and independent research wing of the US Congress that provides briefs for American lawmakers, has already gone where Goldman Sachs is now treading: boldly projecting a BJP resurgence. It has also forewarned Washington about the possible elevation to the Prime Minister office of Narendra Modi, who was denied a US visa in 2005 for his alleged complicity in the 2002 riots.

''Although still in some disorder in 2011, there are signs that the BJP has made changes necessary to be a formidable challenger in scheduled 2014 polls. These include a more effective branding of the party as one focused on development and good governance rather than emotive, Hindutva-related issues,'' the 94-page report noted.

''Among the party’s likely candidates for the prime ministership in future elections is Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who has overseen impressive development successes in his state, but who is also dogged by controversy over his alleged complicity in lethal anti-Muslim rioting there in 2002,'' the report noted in a surprising projection, before Modi was officials declared BJP's prime ministerial candidate. It added that Modi has in the past been denied a US visa under an American law barring entry for foreign government officials found to be complicit in severe violations of religious freedom.

That visa denial, US officials are now suggesting, will not apply if Modi indeed becomes India’s prime minister. Dismissing visa as a non-issue, one US official was quoted telling PTI this week that it was largely a creation of the Indian media and not at all an issue in the US Government .

“I think that the United States had a very strong relationship with the previous Indian government when it was under BJP leadership,” the official said. ''the relationship between the United States and India is an enduring one, it is a bipartisan in the United States, irrespective of who is in office. And we believe that (in a) multiparty (system) in India that it is supported by all political parties, we expect that relationship to continue.”

The official also explained that “There is not a lot of angst about him (Modi)” in the US Government, but the Administration has decided to maintain the status quo on this issue because it might be seen as an interference in India’s domestic politics, with various political parties seeking to make capital out of any decision in Washington.

But US lawmakers are not constrained by such perception issues. A day after the Obama administration official indicated that the denial of visa to chief minister Modi would be overturned in the event of his becoming Prime Minister, key Republican lawmakers are reported to have invited him to address an Indian-American community event, albeit via satellite , on Capitol Hill next week.

The invitation comes from Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rogers, one of three US lawmakers who visited Gujarat and met Modi earlier this year. “I want to congratulate you on winning the nomination of the BJP for Prime Minister of India,” Rogers said in a congratulatory message to Modi, ahead of the November 19 event being billed as “Bharat (India) Day on Capitol Hill.” The day-long event is being hosted by House Republican Conference in the US House of Representatives of which Congresswoman Rodgers is the chair, in association with Shalabh Kumar, who is chair of the Indian-American Advisory Council, and a Modi partisan who helped put together the India trip for US lawmakers.