President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are marking the state visit of the Indian leader on Thursday by launching new partnerships in defense, semiconductor manufacturing and more sectors as the leaders look to strengthen their countries' crucial — albeit complicated — relationship.
But as Biden fetes Modi, human rights advocates and some U.S. lawmakers are questioning the Democratic president's decision to offer the high honor to a leader whose nine-year tenure over the world's biggest democracy has been marked by a backslide in political, religious and press freedoms.
