US welcome of India’s Modi is darkened by rights record
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will this week receive Washington’s top honors for a foreign dignitary: a state dinner at the White House and an address — his second — to a joint meeting of Congress.
Lawmakers and President Joe Biden, eager to deepen a trade and security relationship with one of world’s fastest-growing economies, are publicly papering over the Indian government’s crackdowns on political opposition, the media, civil society and religious minorities in Modi’s nearly 10 years leading the country. Many human rights groups are criticizing the administration and Congress for bestowing the honors.
For Democrats, including a handful of Indian Americans in Congress, there’s also a political calculation to justify carefully weighing their words: The overwhelming majority of Indian Americans vote Democratic and polls show they want deeper U.S.-Indian ties, but are also concerned about New Delhi’s current path. Modi himself has reached out to this diaspora and his past visits to the U.S. have drawn big crowds.
“India’s historic strength and foundation was as a secular nation where you could have the world’s largest Hindu population living side-by-side with one of the world’s largest Muslim populations and I would hate to see India lose that secular identity and I say that as an Indian American,” said Rep. Ami Bera, one of five Indian American lawmakers, all of whom are Democrats.
Bera, D-Calif., was one of several lawmakers who spoke at a conference this month hosted by Indian American Impact, a progressive advocacy group that works to get Indian Americans and other South Asians elected to office in the U.S.
Source: Roll Call
