NaMo chants in NYC

New York: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday started a visit to the United States, which is rolling out the red carpet after shunning him for a decade, but a lawsuit revived past grievances.

Modi -- who was refused a visa in 2005 over Gujarat riots when he was the Chief Minister of the state -- pressed his hands together in a traditional namaste greeting on arrival in New York, where he will address the UN General Assembly on Saturday before heading to Washington.

Modi was welcome by the Indian American community whose members chanted "Modi, Modi", holding placards to greet him at the hotel where is staying.

Modi will meet business leaders and on Sunday achieve the feat of a rock star by addressing the 18,200-capacity Madison Square Garden sports arena in a massive reception organized by Indian American activists, who have long campaigned to rehabilitate his image.

Modi, who earlier this year led his Bharatiya Janata Party to biggest electoral mandate in three decades, has shown no signs of bitterness over his past treatment by the United States and has called for the world's two largest democracies to work closely together.

"India and the US have a fundamental stake in each other's success -- for the sake of our values and our many shared interests," Modi wrote on Friday in The Wall Street Journal.

"The complementary strengths of India and the US can be used for inclusive and broad-based global development to transform lives across the world," he wrote, also calling for greater security cooperation in Asia.

Lawsuit revives dispute

But past tensions over the Gujarat riots came back into focus as a New York court issued a summons to Modi in a lawsuit to answer allegations of "attempted genocide" over the 2002 violence, which left at least 1,000 people dead.

The American Justice Center, a human rights group, announced at a press conference that it had hired three people to serve the summons to Modi at his US events and that it would offer $10,000 to anyone else who successfully handed Modi the notice and caught the moment on camera.

Read: Ahead of his arrival, US court summons Narendra Modi in 2002 Gujarat riots case

The lawsuit, using a US law that allows prosecution of foreign officials over crimes against humanity, seeks damages for three survivors living in the United States.

The Indian foreign ministry in a statement called the case "frivolous and malicious" and said it aimed to distract attention from Modi's visit. Modi has denied wrongdoing over the violence and has never been charged.

Read: India rubbishes allegations against PM Narendra Modi in US court

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Modi as a head of government enjoyed immunity.

Asked if his lawsuit sought to embarrass Modi, lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said: "He should have been embarrassed when he was leading the death squads that killed (the) innocent Muslim community."

Read: Lawsuit against Narendra Modi will not have any impact on India-US talks: White House

In US civil law, a court issues a summons to a defendant in a lawsuit and the move does not indicate that further action would be taken.

But New York court cases are especially sensitive for India after one of its diplomats was arrested in December on charges of mistreating her servant. India angrily took counter-measures, viewing her treatment as insulting.