Democracy, human rights in retreat at Modi-Biden bonhomie

WASHINGTON – A half-dozen lawmakers boycotted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech to Congress on Thursday.

Other lawmakers, who had previously criticized Modi for his anti-democratic policies, decided to attend the session after intense lobbying by Indian diplomats.

In a joint statement, Congressmen Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar and Jamaal Bowman, and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez decided to boycott Modi’s speech.

“It’s shameful that Modi has been given a platform at our nation’s capital—his long history of human rights abuses, anti-democratic actions targeting Muslims & religious minorities and censoring journalists is unacceptable,” said Tlaib on Twitter.

“I will be boycotting Modi’s joint address to Congress,” she wrote.

During the speech, Modi called India the mother of democracy and mocked the criticism.

Immediately before his speech to Congress, Indian media reported that 253 churches were burned in the violence-hit northeastern state of Manipur last month.

According to Reporters Without Borders, media freedom in India is rated worse than in Afghanistan, Somalia, or Colombia.

The prominent press watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had called on the U.S. to urge Modi to end what it called a crackdown on the media.

Four of the protesting lawmakers had opposed giving Modi a platform.

They said the Congress had undermined its ability to be a credible advocate for the rights of religious minorities and journalists around the world.

Earlier, more than 70 members of Congress had urged President Biden to use his meeting with the Indian leader to address human rights abuses in India.

In his speech, Modi used India’s economic potential to attract the U.S.

He said defense and aerospace cooperation helps industries thrive in Washington, Arizona, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania. 

He said a single order for aircraft by Indian companies creates more than one million jobs in forty-four American states.

Modi did not condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as U.S. lawmakers wished him to do.

Biden told reporters he had discussed human rights and democracy during his meeting with Modi.

However, he said both the U.S. and India face “challenges” in those areas.

Modi denied that anti-democratic tendencies are widespread in India. He expressed surprise that critics were raising these issues at all.

He said India has proven that “democracy can make a difference.

A few protesters gathered near Capitol Hill said Modi was trying to turn India into a Hindu nation.

Some experts said that while it was important to maintain closer ties with India, praising Modi personally was reprehensible.

 Daniel Markey, a former State Department official, told The Washington Post that the Trump administration did not care about democratic values, but there is now an even deeper dissonance with the Biden administration.

U.S. officials got a taste of Modi’s distaste for the media when, after persuasion, he agreed to answer only two questions at a press conference he jointly addressed with Biden.

Only two reporters, one from the U.S. press corps and one from the Indian press corps, were allowed to ask questions.

Critics say the U.S. pursued a similar policy in the 1970s and 1980s to encourage China to fight the then-Soviet Union.

By granting China the most-favored-nation status in 1979, the U.S. supported its rise with billions of dollars in economic aid, including loans, grants, technical assistance, and armaments.

China’s authoritarian regime took advantage of the global economic system while maintaining tight control over political and civil liberties.

Is the same script now being rewritten and applied to India?