Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, in his second speech to a joint meeting of Congress, appeared to be only modestly well-received by lawmakers amid criticism raised by Democrats and human rights activists about anti-democratic developments taking place in the world’s largest democracy.
In a speech well-spiced with lines aimed at eliciting strong applause from different congressional groups, including those concerned with climate change, women’s political and economic opportunities, terrorism, and business development in individual U.S. states, Modi seemed to generate enthusiasm only when he spoke of the strength of the Indian-American diaspora, growing bilateral defense cooperation, Ukraine, maintaining a free Indo-Pacific, and the future of the U.S.-India relationship.
The loudest cheers as well as piercing wolf whistles came from the galleries, filled with some of the U.S.’s roughly 4 million Indian Americans. Guests in the galleries chanted ‘Modi! Modi! Modi’ as well as in Hindi, ‘Victory to the motherland’ at the end of the roughly one-hour speech.
