Modis State Visit: Biden Embraces Indian Leader Despite Rights Crackdown

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Washington as part of a four-day State visit President Biden will hold a formal State dinner for Modi tonight Modi will also address a joint session of Congress today he becomes the first Indian Prime Minister to address Congress twice this comes as the Biden administration's attempting to strengthen military and diplomatic ties with India as part of an effort to counter

China's Growing Power in the indo-pacific region earlier this month defense secretary Lloyd Austin traveled to New Delhi we are absolutely not trying to establish a nato in the indo-pacific we continue to work with our with like-minded uh countries to ensure that the region remains free and open so that Commerce can prosper and ideas can continue to be exchanged uh and uh and so we will continue

that work and so certainly India and US share the same vision of a free and open indo-pacific the Biden administration's warm embrace of Narendra Modi is a marked shift in U.S policy for years Modi was banned from even entering the United States over his role an anti-muslim riots in 2002 that left over one thousand dead in Gujarat where Modi was the chief minister human rights groups

have decried modi's record as prime minister at least five Democratic lawmakers have announced plans to boycott Moody's joint address to Congress today their representatives Alexandra ocasio-cortez ilhan Omar Rashida Talib Corey Bush and Jamal Bowman in a post on social media to Libro 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 and

religious minorities and censoring journalists is unacceptable she said more than 70 Democrats in the House and Senate have also signed a letter urging Biden to focus on human rights and talks with Modi one of the signatories of the lead is Jamie Raskin who said he will also not attend modi's speech but not as an act of protest instead we're asking will be attending his daughter's wedding

we go now to Mumbai where we're joined by the Indian journalist Rana Ayub who's a global opinions writer for the Washington Post she's the author of The Gujarat files anatomy of a cover-up Rana welcome back to democracy now thank you for joining us from Mumbai if you can talk about the Royal Treatment that Narendra Modi is getting here on his four-day trip he led yoga exercises

on world yoga day yesterday in front of the United Nations now the joint session of Congress and then a lavish State dinner with President Biden tonight your response again it was always good to see India getting this kind of treatment and acknowledgment in the U.S as a country as a democracy right um when Indians for the longest time you know I mean the kind of stereotypes

about India for the longest time have been about snake Charmers etc etc uh having said that what does India bring on the table which is its biggest asset it's democracy India's Democratic nature its Constitution it's secularism it's inclusiveness um in the nine years that Narendra Modi has been in power uh it has been on a decline and the U.S more than any other country is aware

because just about a month before Prime Minister Modi was in the United States the United States religious freedom report uh called India a country that's attacking its minorities is 200 million Muslim minorities the U.S is very well aware of what's happening but it is opening up um it's it's rolling the red carpet uh for Modi because at the end of the day what matters is that

the U.S needs an ally against China an ally against Russia the U.S needs India as a country with 1.4 billion population the U.S I mean geographically India is more well-paced than any other um Asian country so human rights I mean really it's not even a concern any any more for world leaders I mean it is it is embarrassing um to kind of see this I really

wish that Human Rights was also something that was considered through the soil treatment so Ron are you if you could elaborate on what the situation is in fact inside India you've written extensively on the uh increasing Crackdown on the press as well as the systematic attacks against not just Muslims but also the dalit community in India if you could explain what the situation is well narmeen

this year um India is on the 161st position in the world press Freedom index just about three positions above Russia this is the world's largest democracy uh this year Rahul Gandhi the leader of opposition has been sentenced to two years in prison for a defamation case um at this point of time think tanks in India have had their licenses revoked uh human rights activists are in

jail um Muslims uh 220 million Muslim population the dalits as you rightly pointed out the lower cost in India the Christian minorities at this point of time the Northeastern State of Manipur when Prime Minister Modi has not spoken a single word about the Northeastern State of Manipur where the for the last four weeks more than 100 people have lost their lives between two tribal uh factions

that's where that's where the state of minorities is in India right I'm not just Muslim minorities but across the board uh and these are the ultimate realities our textbooks are changing our live reality is changing are people are being lynched on the streets on allegations of consuming beep history is being Rewritten in India where Gandhi's assassin nathuram God say is being is being Revisited as some

kind of a hero I just wrote a piece in the in the Washington post about India's biggest film industry Bollywood uh it is being weaponized uh with anti-muslim hate with some of the most and islamophobic films prime minister Narendra Modi in an election Bradley just a month before he is just visiting the United States um campaigned for the film endorsed the film and emphatically asked the

people in the rally to go watch the film a film which is islamophobic which says that Muslims are engaging in Acts of Terror that's the reality of a country of 1. 1.4 billion population I mean and Rana could you also respond to what some have suggested uh is playing into this lavish reception of Modi in the U.S namely the increasing prominence and also simply the growth

of the Indian diaspora here in the U.S it's uh the countries one of the country's largest immigrant groups and the fastest growing voting Bloc so if you could speak about this diaspora the Indian diaspora here and to what extent they're sympathetic uh to the Modi government well the Indian diaspora I mean historically has always been very very promotion it's a very very strong and very very

influential uh block of people in the United States not just in the United States it's all over the world right the Indian diaspora has been made has contributed um in all spheres in all aspects of life but the Indian diaspora I mean for the first time in in as as far as I remember uh you saw bulldozers which are which have become symbols of Muslim repression

being used by the diaspora and Republic Day parades in New Jersey uh I have not seen something like that before so Indian does for a by and large historically even after the 2002 riots when Prime Minister Modi presided over or was the chief minister when a thousand Muslims were massacred uh were very vocal in their support of Prime Minister Modi in fact when Mr Modi was

not uh or was denied Visa by the United States for his checkered history on human rights the the diaspora in the in the U.S played a key part in making sure uh that you know that Modi was brought into the United States that modi's popularity increased uh so diaspora extremely significant to what we are seeing right now in fact when when uh when Modi was uh

you know at the Trump rally just in this previous visit when you know when when uh when Trump hosted Modi uh um and you know Modi asked the diaspora to vote for Trump he both of them know that the Indian diaspora is a big voting blog that is extremely significant at that point of time to Trump and of course now to Biden it isn't it is

something that cannot be ignored and the significance of the non-aligned um posture of India when it comes to China and the United States would you say that is a key reason the U.S is rolling out the red carpet for him and also Rana you're in Mumbai so you can't be in Washington D.C but after joint comments between Biden and um Modi this afternoon and they're going

to have a kind of joint news conference I mean they're going to allow journalists to ask questions and apparently um uh it's and you can tell us if this is the case extremely unusual for Narendra Modi to take questions from the Press um he hasn't held a single news conference in India since becoming prime minister about nine years ago in May 2019 he attended a press

conference but did not take questions what question would you ask him what question would I ask him uh I would say that we should take a press conference in India to begin with and and basically speak to us journalists and um I I mean here is a man I mean I have a lot of questions to ask him but here is a man who was who

has looked at the media with a great deal of disdain I mean even if you see the BBC documentary when during his post Gujarat days um here you know when British journalists questioned him about human rights he said you guys are propagandists uh Mr Modi has not taken up single press conference in nine years as the Prime Minister it is it it has never before happened

in the history of democratic India um uh his ministers have referred to journalists as news Traders and prostitutes some of India's top journalists um uh have been attacked by this government uh kashmiri journalist I have to add here there is a full page ad in the Washington Post where journalist um uh with journalist um you know mentioned uh by multiple journalism organizations who have been behind

bars for writing critical stories on Mr Modi I believe that he's taking a prescription conference today but I'm also told it's just about one question from the foreign president one question from the Indian press uh so I'm not sure what kind of a press conference this is going to be and how many how many scathing questions will be asked about him but if I have to

ask him one question uh would it be take a press conference in India and stop stifling Democratic and and and and independent voices in the country and what is he doing to that effect and that issue of China the non-aligned posture of India right now and how critical that is to the United States to put pressure on Modi to take sides absolutely Amy I mean we

exert its influence on India's Northeastern borders and Northeastern states so we also have a China problem as much as United States has a China problem uh so I think China is looming large over this entire um uh discussion with Modi besides the fact that um as opposed to China we are one of the biggest markets for for labor so that is something that is being considered

so I think China is playing a very very big role in this and so is Russia right um but at the end of the day India has always been this non-aligned partner I mean historically right so I don't think it's going to change that status very soon I don't think India can uh the U.S can count on India as an ally um but I think at

this point of time for both India and the US it's a mutually beneficial relationship we have to see how long does this last and Rana could you talk about that the the India's growing role not only as a regional power which arguably it's always been in South Asia but also as a global power India is set to host the G20 Summit uh as the president of

the the G20 in September uh in India and if you could just speak about how this fits in modi's visit to his the India's increasing role under his leadership around the world well Mr Modi has been you know for the last one year India is preparing for the G20 Summit he has been meeting world leaders he went to Australia where he got a massive reception uh

he went to Papua New Guinea he has been going to countries he's part of the code so at this point of time geographically because of its geopolitical position India has a very very significant role to play uh in global politics uh but this is and we are I mean in a country of 1.4 billion people some of the most skilled people uh that we have offered

uh we have to offer across platforms across uh you know whether it's Engineers or or all sorts of skill sets Indians are everywhere so we are in a way of soft power which which the world is looking at and that nobody can deny uh but this visit that we are looking at of a modi's visit to the United States is also going to be a significant

visit for India domestically because Modi is going to the next general election in India in 2024. so you know Modi has been selling this idea of what he calls in Hindi the vishwa guru or the global leader in India has been telling he has been telling Indians that he's the one who's negotiating a peace deal between between Russia and the world um he's talking about taking

on China so I think he is now the last two general elections in India he's gone over domestic issues in the 2024 general elections Modi is going to posture himself as the new world leader which every country is looking forward to Solutions so that's the role of India in the global stage and that issue of Russia uh um Russia invading Ukraine then India becomes the primary

buyer of Russian crude oil can you talk about the significance of this and do you think that Modi could become a mediator uh on the Ukraine war well I would I would not say that Modi could play the media job we have been buying Russian oil and a lot of edit editorials have said that we have saved uh the economy by by buying cheap Russian oils

at this point of time I do not think India not not just not just Modi but any even even the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has said that probably he would have told the same line as Narendra Modi I do not think India is going to take a position vis-a-vis Russia uh Indian Prime Minister has said that he is trying to broker peace he's looking going to

look at a peaceful solution uh but as far as Russia is concerned Modi and Putin have a long-standing long-standing friendship and India and Russia have had a have had a unique relationship over the past decades I do not think that you know is rolling the red carpet but I don't think he can get uh Prime Minister Modi to agree to something significant on Russia just yet

there's a lot of talk about this but we have not seen anything significant to vis-a-vis Russia on India's part and Rana finally before we conclude uh if you could talk about I mean the fact that you've just mentioned I mean India has always been the largest importer of Arms from Russia now there's some discussion about how uh India is now diversifying uh because of short the

shortage of arms in in Russia given the war in Ukraine and what the U.S hopes uh to uh arrange with India in this respect to provide military equipment from the U.S to India could it be the question please narmeen I'm saying that because India has relied principally on on Russia for its military Imports uh the vast majority uh coming from Russia to India but India is

now diversifying the source of its arms including possibly from the U.S what do you expect to come out of this meeting uh here now on Military on the military well I mean Indian pandits and DC panditriya has been political s have been saying that probably a sort of you know U.S offering its own um its own arms and weapons to the to India and that you

know probably there's going to be a deal which will be announced tomorrow or day after I'm going to look at it with a great deal of skepticism and apprehension I'm going to wait to see what comes out of it but if that does happen I still am not very optimistic that Mr Modi is going to take a position on Russia even if even if even if

the fact that we have multiple sources of getting our arms and weapons besides Russia I don't think that is something that we need to get extremely uh optimistic about I don't think that's going to change the situation just yet Rana you want to thank you for being with us Indian journalists Global opinions writer for the Washington Post author of Gujarat files anatomy of a cover-up speaking

to us from Mumbai India