Modi's denial of discrimination against Indian minorities a lie — activists

Narendra Modi's denial that discrimination against minorities exists in India contradicts thorough documentation by rights advocates, according to activists disappointed by President Joe Biden's embrace of the right-wing Indian prime minister.

Asked at a press conference with Biden on Thursday what steps he was willing to take to "improve the rights of Muslims and other minorities in your country and to uphold free speech," Modi suggested they did not need to be improved.

"There is no end to data that shows Modi is lying about minority abuse in India, and much of it can be found in the State Department's own India country reports, which are scathing on human rights," said Sunita Viswanath, co-founder of the group Hindus for Human Rights, on Friday.

In reports released this year on human rights and religious freedom, the US State Department raised concerns over treatment of Muslims, Hindu Dalits, Christians and other religious minorities in India while also criticising a crackdown on journalists and dissidents.

"We have proved democracy can deliver," Modi said on Thursday.

"When I say deliver — caste, creed, religion, gender — there is no space for any discrimination."

The Indian government denies the charges of discrimination, saying its policies aim for the welfare of all communities without bias and that it enforces the law equally.

Biden, who hosted Modi for a lavish state visit, said he discussed human rights and other democratic values with Modi during their talks in the White House, but he did not publicly criticise Modi, his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] or India's government on the topic.

India's importance for the US to counter China and the economic ties between the countries make it difficult for Washington to criticise human rights in the world's largest democracy, political analysts said.

Biden 'failed on his campaign promises'

Rights advocates said that by not publicly calling out the human rights situation in India, Biden had lost their trust.

"Biden did nothing. He failed on his campaign promises of promoting human rights," said Raqib Hameed Naik, the founder of Hindutva Watch, a group that monitors reports of attacks on Indian minorities.

"The Biden administration should maintain valuable relations with India but call out and sanction Mr Modi's illiberal politics and arbitrary rule," said Angana Chatterji, a scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.

India has slid from 140th in the World Press Freedom Index in 2014 to 161st this year, its lowest point, compared to the United States at 45th.

India also leads the list for the highest number of government-imposed internet shutdowns globally for five consecutive years.

The UN human rights office described a 2019 citizenship law as "fundamentally discriminatory" for excluding Muslim refugees and migrants.

Critics have also pointed to anti-conversion legislation that challenged the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief and the revoking of Muslim-majority Kashmir's special status and annexing it in 2019 as well.

There has also been demolition of properties owned by Muslims in the name of removing illegal construction and a ban on wearing the hijab in classrooms in Karnataka when the BJP was in power in that state.

With eye toward China, Biden goes all-in for Modi

Biden offered Modi the full pomp of a state visit with two dinners — one intimate and one gala — a meeting with top CEOs, and a long list of concrete takeaways including agreements on US engines for India's new home-grown fighter-jets and a major semiconductor factory.

Biden is "trying to tell the world that America is back. We've got partners and allies and we've got India on our side of the ledger," said Aparna Pande, a South Asia expert at the Hudson Institute.

Biden hopes to "send a message to China — you have your people and I have my people and India is among mine," she said.

Ashley Tellis, a prominent India scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, offered a contrarian view in a recent essay in Foreign Affairs.

He pointed to India's refusal to join the West in isolating Russia over Ukraine and doubted that India, hesitant at formal alliances, would provide any meaningful support in a US conflict with China.

Tamanna Salikuddin, a former State Department official, called the joint statement for Modi's visit "remarkable" in its scope with the defence deliverables on par with what the United States would give a NATO or other treaty ally.

"The depth and breadth of what we're committing to with India is really putting them in a totally different basket. And I think that is what Modi wanted," said Salikuddin, now director of South Asia programmes at the US Institute of Peace.

Modi, the most powerful Indian leader in decades, comes with particular baggage. Before he became prime minister in 2014, the United States refused to issue him a visa due to his alleged role in anti-Muslim riots as leader of Gujarat. In those riots Hindu mobs killed thousands of Muslims.

At least six lawmakers boycotted Modi's speech but Biden made clear that rights concerns would not impede ties with India and offered carefully chosen words about both countries facing challenges to democracy.

Modi, who has not held an open press conference at home in his nine years in power, was coaxed to take two questions as part of the state visit and denied discrimination against minorities.

"There's an irony in that the Biden administration seeks to contrast democratic India with authoritarian China," said Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center.

But Biden "doesn't appear to worry too much" about accusations he is ignoring democratic backsliding in India, Kugelman said.

"The two leaders definitely got what they wanted: They brought the most prestige possible to a partnership they're keen to showcase," he said.

BJP politician lashes out at Obama

"The protection of the Muslim minority in a majority Hindu India, that is something worth mentioning," former US president Barack Obama, whom Modi calls a close friend, told CNN in an interview aired on Thursday.

"If you do not protect the rights of ethnic minorities in India, then there is a strong possibility that India at some point starts pulling apart," Obama said of what he would have told Modi now.

"I do think that it is appropriate for the president of the United States, where he or she can, to uphold those principles and to challenge — whether behind closed doors or in public — trends that are troubling," Obama said.

"I do think that it is appropriate for the president of the United States, where he or she can, to uphold those principles and to challenge — whether behind closed doors or in public — trends that are troubling," Obama added.

Lashing out at Obama in a tweet, Himanta Biswa Sarma, an Indian politician affiliated with Modi's BJP said the country "should prioritise taking care of" many "Hussain Obama" in India — a pointed reference to India's minority Muslim population.

"There are many Hussain Obama in India itself. We should prioritise taking care of them before considering going to Washington. The Assam police will act according to our own priorities," Sarma, who's chief minister of northeastern Assam state, wrote.

Sarma was reacting to a social media post speculating if Indian police will go to arrest Obama over his remarks on need to protect rights of Muslim minority in majority Hindu India.