President Joe Biden and Narendra Modi on Thursday will use the Indian prime minister’s state visit to mark deepening defence and technological ties between their respective nations, even as many members of Mr Biden’s own party plan to snub the controversial Indian leader at a planned address to the US Congress.
Mr Modi, who arrived in the US on Wednesday and visited the National Science Foundation with First Lady Jill Biden before the Bidens hosted him for a private dinner at the White House, has visited Washington before during his near-decade as the leader of the world’s largest democracy, a nine-year period that has been marked by increasing attacks on free speech and religious freedom under the rule of his Bharatiya Janata Party.
