Joe Biden has pronounced the US-India relationship never stronger and rolled out a series of new business deals on the second day of the Indian prime minister’s state visit, but Narendra Modi’s trip has been marked with controversy as many call for Biden to address India’s continuing crackdown on religious and press freedoms.
An official state visit is the highest-ranked diplomatic invitation extended to a foreign leader and is a sign of the US president’s national security priorities as his administration courts India as a partner against China.
In a joint news conference with Modi, Biden called the relationship between the US and India among the most consequential in the world and “more dynamic than at any time in history.”
“We talked about our shared efforts to mitigate humanitarian tragedies unleashed by Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine and to defend core principles of the UN charter,” the US president said. Modi has previously faced criticism for not more forcefully criticising Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Peace and security in the Indo-Pacific is our priority,” Modi said. “India and the US stand shoulder to shoulder in our fight against terrorism and fundamentalism.”
When asked about the human rights and democratic issues in India, Biden said: “The prime minister and I had a good discussion about democratic values – that’s the nature of our relationship, we’re straightforward with each other.”
Modi said he was surprised by the critique. “There is absolutely no space for discrimination,” he said. “In India the benefits provided by the government is accessible to all.”
Among the announcements made on Thursday is an agreement that will allow US-based General Electric to partner with India-based Hindustan Aeronautics to produce jet engines for Indian aircraft in India and the sale of US-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones.
The Biden administration also announced plans to bolster India’s semiconductor industry.
“We made critical and emerging technologies the pillar of our next generation partnership to ensure these technologies promote and protect our values, remain open, accessible, trusted and secure,” Biden said. “All this matters for America, for India and for the world.”
Thousands of Indian Americans and other guests gathered on the White House south lawn to greet Modi on Thursday morning, ahead of the private meeting between the two leaders and a state dinner. Modi, India’s prime minister since 2014, also addressed a joint session of Congress on Thursday afternoon.
At the same time, dozens of demonstrators gathered near the White House gates to protest the visit. Human rights advocates have accused Modi and his party, the BJP, of fueling the rise of violence associated with Hindu nationalism and discriminating against India’s Muslim minority.
“The fact that Modi has been invited despite being complicit with innocent people being killed since 2002 when he was the chief minister [of Gujarat] is devastating for our communities because it’s just saying, ‘it’s OK what you do back home but you can still come here,’” said Husnaa Vhora, the advocacy associate for the DC-based non-profit Indian American Muslim council.
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Dozens of lawmakers had also urged Biden to address the issue of human rights with Modi in a letter on Tuesday, asking the president to raise reports of “shrinking of political space, the rise of religious intolerance, the targeting of civil society organisations and journalists and growing restrictions on press freedoms and internet access” in India.
A handful of representatives, including Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who are Muslim, boycotted Modi’s address to Congress. The Indian leader focused on unity in that message.
“The beauty of democracy is the constant connect with the people, to listen to them and feel their pulse,” said Modi, who shook hands with applauding members of Congress as he walked down to the front. It was his second time addressing both chambers of Congress, the first being in 2016. “We are home to all faiths in the world, and we celebrate all of them,” Modi claimed in his speech on Thursday.
As expected, Biden balanced lawmakers and human rights advocates’ concerns with the US’s desire to deepen ties with India, a major trading partner and a counterweight to China.
“China is in the background of all of these meetings,” said Tamanna Salikuddin, the director of South Asia programs at the non-partisan US Institute of Peace. “There is real convergence between the US and India on China.”
Since 2020, India has seen deadly confrontations along its border with China, and security in the Indo-Pacific has become a shared priority. “India is, I think, one of the leading partners we have in [the Biden administration’s] Indo-Pacific strategy,” she said.