In the weeks and days ahead of Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington this week, U.S. officials have been outwitting each other with flattery, leaving supporters of the Indian leader Delighted, and cringed at his critics.
“He’s the most popular world leader for a reason,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said explain At an India House event in Washington in April, she wore a green and yellow sari and gestured generously. “He was incredible, visionary and his level of commitment to the people of India is indescribable.”
The US ambassador, Eric Garcetti, who arrived in New Delhi last month, called Ajit Doval, Modi’s India “guru” and the prime minister’s ruthless national security adviser, “not just a national treasure, And it’s an international treasure.”
AsiaNews International reported that at a quartet summit in Australia last month, President Biden told Modi that he had run out of tickets for a state dinner at the White House next Thursday because the Indian leader was “too popular.” “.
In a world of post-pandemic supply chain shifts, a destructive global war in Ukraine and growing concerns about China, the US is not alone in rolling out the red carpet for India. France’s Emmanuel Macron has invited Modi to be the guest of honor at the National Day military parade next month.
But India’s liberal elites are frustrated with the glamor movement. Analysts say Western democracies are setting aside human rights principles, including concerns about New Delhi’s treatment of Muslim and Christian minorities, pressure on NGOs and journalism and weakening democratic standards because they need India as a bulwark against China.
India’s Narendra Modi, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron at the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May. Macron invited Modi as guest of honor at next month’s National Day parade © Brendan Smialowski/PoolL/AFP via Getty Images
“Western countries have decided not to focus on India’s declining democratic credentials, press freedom or treatment of religious minorities because they believe they need India as a counterweight to China,” said Sushant Singh, a senior fellow at the Center for Policy Research. believes that a stronger India will counter the rise of China.”
The Indian government refuses to admit that its democracy is not robust, and its defenders can easily find examples of democratic regression in Western countries, especially the United States.
From an American perspective, India is not the only country where Washington has pushed human rights aside and geopolitical considerations to the fore, as evidenced by its growing defense alliance with Vietnam, a non-democratic one-party state out of this. Among other democracies, Israel, a longtime U.S. ally with bipartisan support for its spotty human rights record and fraying democratic institutions under Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The question is, are we supporting an increasingly illiberal democracy?” Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation, asked about U.S.-India relations. “The way I see it, we are.”
“We think geopolitics and confronting China is more important to us right now than the values-based diplomacy that the Biden administration has said they will prioritize,” he added.
India’s size sets it apart, both in terms of what its western diplomatic partners are willing to ignore, and in terms of the benefits they reap from it.
The country is now the world’s largest arms buyer, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. With an order for 36 Rafale fighter jets, France is now the second-largest military supplier after Russia, with the US third.
Modi will address Congress on Thursday and preside over a series of deals involving U.S. companies, the fruit of a growing U.S.-India partnership in technology and defense.
More deals are expected as the country pushes an “indigenization” program to establish local defense production, including an expected deal with General Electric to build jet engines in India.
Despite these priorities, some criticism of human rights in India did emerge from certain parts of the US government. The U.S. State Department’s recent religious freedom report listed India as one of 17 countries of special concern, citing violence and hate speech against Muslims and Christians.
But now, it’s usually a whisper. When opposition lawmaker Rahul Gandhi was recently found guilty of defamation and stripped of his seat in parliament, the US said it was “watching” the case, phrasing it carefully, emphasizing Washington’s and New Delhi’s “shared commitment to democratic values”.
Analysts after the upcoming visit said any U.S. rhetoric on sensitive issues, including human rights and India’s relationship with Russia, would be equally delicate as long as they were articulated.