Several Indian-American organizations are asking the White House to remove a Florida doctor from a federal advisory panel after he defended an Indian official who was denied an American visa on the grounds that he condoned anti-Muslim riots.

The groups are seeking the ouster of Dr. Akshay Desai, who was appointed by President Bush to the advisory commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. In a March 18 letter to a top Bush adviser, Karl Rove, Dr. Desai suggested the administration had fallen victim to a “systematic ‘smear campaign'” when it rebuffed the request by the chief minister of India’s Gujarat Province, Narendra Modi, to deliver speeches in New York, Florida, and California.

Dr. Desai painted the situation largely in religious terms.” Mr. Modi is a Hindu by religion and has been accused by some Muslim organizations of being anti-Muslim,” wrote the physician, an internist who runs a managed care organization. “As you know, India has over 800 millions [sic] practicing Hindus and the previous Hindu-dominated BJP government of India and its leaders were and are very close to our administration. The Indian American community in the USA is also predominantly Hindu and would feel humiliated,” Dr. Desai wrote in a late attempt to reverse the State Department’s decision on the visa.

Dr. Desai’s letter, which was posted on Web sites frequented by Indian-Americans, drew the ire of Mr. Modi’s critics, who blame the Indian official for failing to act against riots that killed about 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat in 2002.

“Dr. Akshay Desai speaks only for marginal populace who espouse a militant supremacist ideology known as Hindutva,” eight organizations wrote in an open letter to Mr. Rove last week. “Far from being a Muslim versus Hindu issue, the opposition to Modi’s visit comes from a wide and diverse section of mainstream Indian Americans that include Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Dalits, women’s groups and human rights organizations,” the groups wrote.

One of the letter’s writers, Reverend Bernard Mallick of the Federation of Indian-American Christian Organizations of North America, said Dr. Desai should be removed because his arguments were overly sectarian. “There was a tone to that that was Hindus versus Muslims,” said Reverend Mallick, who lives in Wilmington, Del. “It’s not that way. There was a big persecution there in ’97-’98 against Christians.”

Human rights officials at the State Department have accused Mr. Modi’s government of condoning violence against religious minorities. Rev. Mallick said Dr. Desai should heed that analysis or get off the White House panel. “If he’s trying to publicly differ with President Bush’s policy, then he shouldn’t be there,” the minister said.

The president of the Indian Muslim Coalition-USA, Dr. Shaik Ubaid, also accused Dr. Desai of religious bias. “He’s not there on the panel as a Hindu,” Dr. Ubaid said. “He’s not speaking for all Asians and is trying to take side of people who commit genocide and rape.”

In an interview with The New York Sun this week, Dr. Desai retreated somewhat from his letter to Mr. Rove. “I have no dog in this fight,” the Florida internist said. He said he was just passing on concerns from Indian-American hotel owners who were disappointed that Mr. Modi could not speak at their convention.

Dr. Desai said he also wanted to make the White House aware that rebuffing Mr. Modi could hurt relations between America and India.

Asked about the State Department’s accusations that Mr. Modi failed to quell the Gujarat clashes, Dr. Desai said, “There were riots, but rioting in India is fairly common. There are all kinds of riots. In Bombay, election-related violence goes on and on. Yes, it is not good. But, it goes on in Kashmir. It goes on in Delhi.”

The riots were triggered by reports that a Muslim mob set fire to a train, killing 59 Hindus. However, an investigation later determined that the fire was an accident.

Dr. Desai said he had received no reply from Mr. Rove to the letter criticizing the decision to bar Mr. Modi from America. A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment for this story. The chairwoman of the Asian-American commission, Betty Wu of New York, said she was unaware of the controversy.

Human rights groups say the exclusion of Mr. Modi represented the first time the State Department publicly invoked a 1998 law that allows officials to deny visas to persons who have engaged in egregious violations of religious freedom. After the decision was announced, the American Embassy in Delhi warned Americans to brace for possible anti-American demonstrations. An American trade office in Gujarat was also closed temporarily.

No anti-American violence was reported, but the Indian government called in the ranking American diplomat in the country and lodged an official protest.