Commentary 23/06/28 Modi’s US trip not a victory for human rights in India

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Modi’s US trip not a victory for human rights in India 

The US, despite its public posturing on rights abuses in China and Russia, knows when to close its eyes and hold its tongue

US President Joe Biden looks on as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during an official state dinner at the White House in Washington, DC, on June 22. (Photo: AFP)

By John Dayal

Published: June 28, 2023 11:46 AM GMT

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has returned home after what is being hailed as a very successful visit to the United States of America, his first formal one as head of government of the largest democracy in the world.

Immediately after landing at the airport, he was back in his element as an election campaigner.  In his first public outing in Bhopal, the capital city of central Madhya Pradesh state, he pilloried opposition parties and minority communities as arch-enemies of the country.

He remained silent on the mass killings and arson in Manipur where more than 300 churches have been burned since May 3, with over 130 reported deaths and some 50,000 displaced, most of them Kuki tribals who have lost their homes and livelihoods.

The US visit has been a great success indeed in military terms. India bought US$3 billion worth of the latest in Unmanned Airborne Vehicles, MQ-9B SkyGuardian or Predator drones capable of carrying missiles with nuclear warheads.

There are mutual promises of collaboration in the manufacture of computer chips, advanced aircraft engines, and military surveillance devices. The export of all these to India had been banned because of its military collaboration with the then Soviet Union, and later with Russia.

Not a high cost for the revenge Modi has had on the mighty US.

"There was not one formal invitation for an official visit to the Mecca of the free world"

If he has one special faculty, it is to never forget a slight. He did not forget that at the behest of the Coalition Against Genocide (CAG), he was denied a visa to that country in 2002 even though he was the chief minister of Gujarat state whose sons and daughters in the US control large businesses and have influence on Capitol Hill and most of the fifty states. Perhaps, even in Puerto Rico.

CAG had, with detailed documentation, charged Modi with presiding over a regime that was blind and deaf to the rape and mass murder of Muslims in the western Indian state.

Once he became prime minister in 2014, Modi eventually got himself clean chits from probe agencies. The high office came with unlimited diplomatic visas to the US. But till this time, there was not one formal invitation for an official visit to the Mecca of the free world. 

He had to make do with private visits on his way to the United Nations. Jamborees were organized in Houston and New York by his party’s overseas branch, with the assistance of the rich Gujarati diaspora.

Former US president, Donald Trump, accompanied him on one jamboree.

Things became easier when India joined the US-led Quad in a strategic alliance against China. The alliance is more military than diplomatic or commercial. The US and Japan have both made amply clear that they want to use the Quad’s combined naval might to contain the Chinese presence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Modi has sought to fudge the military part, lest it rouses Chinese anger to boiling point amid the eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation in the high Himalayan reaches of Ladakh. India also does not want to ruin its long-standing and very lucrative relationship with Russia, currently China’s main backer.

He has also made the Biden administration soften its stance toward him at a personal level. Biden hosted a state dinner for him at the White House, not a rare event, but still high in diplomatic value. He was asked to address a joint meeting of Congress, which has a decent number of people of South Asian origin.

"Human rights, unfortunately for India’s injured minorities and intellectuals, were not directly discussed"

Modi had taken with him gifts he thought would please his hosts. A large synthetic diamond for First Lady Jill Biden and a Ganesha for the president. The diamond was made at a laboratory in his home state, Gujarat.

In his address to Congress, and later at a diaspora function attended by Indian billionaires, Modi dwelt at length on Indian civilization. His punch line was that the country had emerged from more than a thousand years of slavery which, in effect, ended when he became prime minister.

The “slavery," though he did not spell it out, was the rule of a series of Muslim kings with origins in Turkey, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.

Modi frequently uses this trope as a dog whistle to his followers, against Muslims.

His visit had evoked limited protests in Washington DC by Hindus for Human Rights, the India America Muslim Council, and the Federation of Indian Christian Organizations of North America. These protests were overwhelmed by crowds of Modi supporters who chanted before the accompanying Indian media: “Modi is India.”

Human rights, unfortunately for India’s injured minorities and intellectuals, were not directly discussed. In fact, before the Modi visit, the State Department had shot down a report by the US Commission for International Religious Freedom that listed the terror let loose on Christians and Muslims by non-state majoritarian groups we call the Sangh Parivar, and who often had the patronage of the state police and justice machinery.

Former president, Barack Obama, in a television interview said the persecution of Indian Muslims should find a place in the discussion between the leaders of the US and India.

Obama, who as president was a state guest at a Republic Day parade in New Delhi, was criticized by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman.

Both made reference to his father, a Kenyan Muslim, and mother, a white American, to remind him that he had attacked eight Muslim countries while in office despite his religious affiliation.

"The prime minister has never held a press conference in India in his nine years in office"

This Islamaphobic trope was reminiscent of Trump’s own attacks on Obama insinuating his foreign origin and Islamic heritage.

The troll army was even cruder, attacking the Wall Street Journal’s White House correspondent, Sabrina Siddiqui. She was called a Pakistani agent and a person with a vested interest in pulling India down.

The trolls included India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) social media chief, Amit Malaviya, and several high-ranking politicians.

Siddiqui had asked the Indian prime minister at a news conference in the East Room of the White House what steps he and his government were willing to take to improve the rights of Muslims and other minorities in India and to uphold free speech.

Modi took a sip of water and dodged the question saying, "We have always proved that democracy can deliver. And when I say deliver, this is regardless of caste, creed, religion, gender. There’s absolutely no space for discrimination."

No supplementary questions were allowed.

The prime minister has never held a press conference in India in his nine years in office.

For human rights and civil society activists in India, Modi's US visit has been both disappointing and depressing. Together with the European Union and the United Kingdom, the US is an important voice multiplier for international advocacy movements against religious bigotry and violence in India in particular, apart from other civil liberties which are under strain.

The reports by the Department of State and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom are important documents that back up reports of human rights and civil society groups at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

India’s human rights record was under review in Geneva last year in its Universal Periodic Review.

The Department of State and the White House are tight-lipped and are maintaining a diplomatic silence even on the massive, targeted violence in Manipur, for instance, as well as the lynching of Muslims by cow vigilantes who run a parallel militant cadre of their own in many states.

The narrowing of the window for human rights groups is in sharp contrast to the rapidly multiplying influence of the Hindu America Foundation and the US branches of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar on the White House, the State Department and Congress.

Many American legislators are obliged to their American Indian constituents, much as the weapon industry is to the large and increasing trade with India. The US, despite its public posturing and attacks on the human rights record of China and Russia, knows when to politely close its eyes and hold its tongue.

*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.