India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will receive a lavish welcome Thursday in Washington, where he will address a joint session of Congress and be feted by President Biden and the first lady at a state dinner. at the White House – the third state leader to be hosted by the current administration.
Rounding out the pageantry of an important visit for US-India relations, seen as a confirmation of India’s rise as an economic and diplomatic power, will be heavy questions of geopolitical alignment in relation to influence. China’s economy and Russia’s military aggression, as well as the erosion of secular democracy in India under Mr. Modi. How much if any of this the two leaders will say publicly is unclear.
The visit was an important diplomatic prize for Mr. Modi, who was previously denied a visa to the United States for his role in religious riots in his home state, and as the prime minister is consolidating power and bringing his country closer to one party. rule.
However, the Biden administration has diligently sought to bring India closer, both economically and militarily, at the cost of upsetting his often-stated worldview of a targeted war between autocracies and democracies.
Here’s what to know about Mr. Modi.
The US is trying to bring India closer.
Announcing Mr. Modi’s state visit, the White House press secretary said the occasion would celebrate “the warm bonds of family and friendship that bind Americans and Indians.” Like his predecessors, Mr. Biden is banking on the hope that India, the world’s most populous democracy and the fifth-largest economy, will serve as a counterweight to China’s growing global economy. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen last year visited India as part of the administration’s push to move global supply chains away from political and economic adversaries.
“New Delhi has an important role to play in checkmating China – if politically targeted, militarily aided and geopolitically encouraged by the US and its allies,” said Happymon Jacob, who teaches foreign policy at India at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
The urgency for good relations has been exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine, a geopolitical crisis that has put India at the center of the conflict between the United States and its allies and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. India, while developing closer relations with the United States, maintains military and economic ties with Russia, buys Russian oil at a discount and refrains from supporting United Nations resolutions condemning Russian aggression.
Defense cooperation is high on the agenda.
The United States wants to help India strengthen the country’s defense industry and increase military cooperation between the two countries in an attempt to rid India of its long-standing dependence on Russia for its weapons. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, each traveled to New Delhi this month ahead of the state visit to lay the groundwork for a closer defense partnership.
The vast majority of India’s arsenal is estimated to be of Russian origin, the result of a decade-long defense relationship between the two countries at a time when the United States instead supplied weapons to India’s rival, Pakistan. While the proportion of Russian arms in India’s defense imports has declined in recent years, the country remains dependent on Russia for parts and maintenance.
Emphasizing more technological cooperation, military coordination and intelligence sharing between the two countries, Mr. Austin said during his visit to New Delhi: “All this is important because we are facing a rapid change -or in the world. We see oppression and coercion from the People’s Republic of China, the aggression of Russia against Ukraine that seeks to change the borders by force and threatens national sovereignty.
Modi has been accused of undermining democracy.
In hosting Mr. Modi, Mr. Biden will join a leader who is wildly popular in his country but has sidelined challengers, co-opted the judicial system and consolidated power to a degree that worries observers and critics of the Democratic Party. . sweeping the country that recently surpassed China to become the world’s most populous.
This week, more than 70 Democratic lawmakers urged the president in a letter to step up support for the Indian prime minister’s democratic values and human rights, citing “disturbing signs that India is on the way to decline in the political space, the rise of religious intolerance, the targeting of civil society organizations and journalists, and increasing restrictions on press freedom and internet access.
The India of Mr. Modi has become increasingly dangerous for the country’s more than 200 million religious minorities, as his right-wing vigilante supporters stoke religious tensions with the aim of imposing Hindu supremacy on secular democracy. in India. That leads to a perpetual sense of burning to the ground, especially for Muslims in India.
In March, Rahul Gandhi, India’s most prominent opposition leader and Mr. Modi, was convicted on the charge of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison. He filed an appeal and remained free, but the conviction allowed Mr. Modi’s allies to expel him from the country’s Parliament.
Mujib Mashal contributed to the report.
