Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ state visit
is fueling concerns from activist groups in the United States that the Biden
administration has put human rights on the back burner.
During
the visit, President Biden held back from public criticism of Modi’s
handling of human rights and democratic values — issues that led a handful of
progressive lawmakers to boycott his speech to a joint address to Congress.
The
president, instead, rolled out the red carpet for Modi with a celebratory
welcome and hug, a 21-gun salute and a state dinner with notable White House
guests, a charm offensive underscoring India’s economic and foreign policy
importance to the United States.
Biden had previously come under criticism last July for a
fist bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit to Jeddah
that advocates argue effectively ignored the Saudi government’s human rights
abuses.
White
House officials contend that tough conversations with allies behind closed
doors — including Modi — are more productive than grandstanding and scolding in
public.
“The prime minister and I had a good discussion about
democratic values. … We’re straightforward with each other, and — and we
respect each other,” Biden said during a press conference alongside Modi at the
White House on Thursday.
But critics say that puts little pressure on governments and
leaders like Modi to actually deliver on reforms.
The Indian leader in particular is criticized for failing to
counter anti-Muslim hate and is cracking down on civil liberties and press
freedoms — issues that strike at the core of respect for democratic
governments.
“I would argue that the administration needs to be more
explicit about backsliding allies, practically recommitting themselves to
fundamental freedoms and the respect for human rights as the basis for an
evolving global order,” said Tess McEnery, who previously served as Biden’s
director for democracy and human rights at the National Security Council.
During his campaign, Biden put human rights at the center of
his foreign policy messaging and identified strengthening democracy — at home
and abroad — as key to pushing back against autocratic governments such as
Russia and China.
Yet in pushing back on Russia and China, the US also needs
allies. And that has complicated efforts with human rights.
The
White House sees India as an indispensable partner in its strategy with China;
its population of 1.4 billion people is the only market that can compete with
Beijing’s.
India represents a needed partner in the administration’s
efforts to diversify supply chains away from China for critical materials such
as semiconductors and rare earth minerals that are the building blocks of those
technologies.
Modi recognized the power that India holds during his
address to Congress on Thursday.
“When
defense and aerospace in India grow, industries in the states of Washington,
Arizona, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania thrive. … When
Indians fly more, a single order for aircrafts creates more than a million jobs
in 44 states in America,” he said. “When an American phone maker invests in
India, it creates an entire ecosystem of jobs and opportunities in both
countries.”
The
most robust applause from Congress came when Modi said the US was one of
India’s most important defense partners — an important statement given American
efforts to turn New Delhi away from its reliance on Russia’s defense industry
and have it serve a bulwark against China’s growing military.
The US is home to a more than an Indian-American community
of more than 4.5 million people — a key voting bloc that the president hopes to
hold onto ahead of what is likely to be a fraught 2024 presidential
election.
“I think that President Biden is eager not to cede any of
the, kind of, Indian-American community vote to the Republican Party,” said
Daniel Markey, senior adviser on South Asia at the United States Institute of
Peace (USIP).
Republicans
and Democrats in Congress are largely united in supporting a robust US and
Indian partnership. A bipartisan and bicameral grouping introduced legislation
Thursday to fast-track weapons sales to India in recognition of Modi’s visit.
And
while more than 70 House and Senate lawmakers raised concerns over Modi’s human
rights record in a letter to Biden ahead of the visit, only a little more than
a handful of progressive Democratic lawmakers boycotted the prime
minister’s speech.
“We are
told that we must now turn a blind eye to the repression because of foreign
policy concerns, even though human rights are supposed to be at the center of
our foreign policy,”Ilhan Omar said during a policy briefing she
hosted with human rights advocates after Modi’s address, which she boycotted.
Among the most pressing criticisms against Modi’s rule is
the criminal conviction against Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who was
sentenced to two years in prison for negatively using Modi’s surname during a
political rally in 2019.
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Advocates have also warned about freedom of speech and press
freedoms in India in the wake of a tax raid on the offices of the BBC in India
in March, and cases of journalists being jailed.
Freedom House, a nongovernmental organization that tracks
democratic freedoms globally, rated India as partly free in its Freedom in the
World report for 2023. The group claimed Modi’s government and his Hindu nationalist
Bharatiya Janata Party has presided over discriminatory policies and a rise in
persecution affecting the Muslim population.
“The constitution guarantees civil liberties including
freedom of expression and freedom of religion, but harassment of journalists,
nongovernmental organizations, and other government critics has increased
significantly under Modi,” the group wrote.
Jim McGovern, co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights
Commission, argued that a balance can be met between calling out human rights
concerns while also supporting the US-Indian relationship.
“It’s because we value our friendship with the Indian people
that we also have to speak the truth about human rights abuses in India that
are ongoing, well-documented by credible observers and deeply troubling,” he
said at the policy briefing hosted by Omar.
“We don’t raise these issues to discredit India,” he
continued. “We raise them because we know from our own experience that if human
rights problems are not confronted and resolved, they will fester and deepen
and undermine a country’s promise.”
Markey, of the USIP, said the Biden administration prepared
for blowback over the decision to keep criticisms against Modi in private, but
added that its excessive references to sharing appreciation for democratic
governance did itself no favors.
“I think they went even farther than maybe they needed to
do, for Indian consumption,” he said.
“They leaned into the shared-democracy issue, rather than
pulling back from it,” Markey added. “They gave a lot of ammunition to those
who would suggest that this is just pure hypocrisy at this point, rather than
kind of edging around it.”
McEnery, who is now the executive director of the Project on
Middle East Democracy, said the Biden administration needs to elevate
defending democracy and human rights to an “interest” more than a value.
That would mean doing trade and economic deals centered on
good governance principles, she said, or reforming arms and security
relationships based on human rights.
“I saw this firsthand a lot, where many good, hard-working
people inside every arm of the US government, including the National Security
Council, tried to make the case for democracy and human rights as a vital
national security interest,” she said. “And I would see that shot down time and
again by others throughout the government.”
