Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will this week receive Washington’s top honors for a foreign dignitary: a state dinner at the White House and an address — his second — to a joint meeting of Congress.
Lawmakers and President Joe Biden, eager to deepen a trade and security relationship with one of world’s fastest-growing economies, are publicly papering over the Indian government’s crackdowns on political opposition, the media, civil society and religious minorities in Modi’s nearly 10 years leading the country. Many human rights groups are criticizing the administration and Congress for bestowing the honors.
For Democrats, including a handful of Indian Americans in Congress, there’s also a political calculation to justify carefully weighing their words: The overwhelming majority of Indian Americans vote Democratic and polls show they want deeper U.S.-Indian ties, but are also concerned about New Delhi’s current path. Modi himself has reached out to this diaspora and his past visits to the U.S. have drawn big crowds.
