NEW YORK - Leading up to the visit, President Biden praised Modi enthusiastically, telling the PM that he was “too popular” and “demonstrating that democracies matter.” The statement is ironic: Ever since Modi took power in 2014 as the leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), India has experienced what is widely described as democratic backsliding, characterized by anti-minority and caste-based violence along with brutal crackdowns on dissent, writes Shraddha Joshi in The Nation.
The Biden administration’s messaging on Modi has been alarming. “India is a vibrant democracy. Anybody that happens to go to New Delhi can see that for themselves,” claimed John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, in a recent White House press briefing.
Last summer, I worked in New Delhi and witnessed the harassment and suppression of journalists and activists from Modi’s government firsthand. American politicians continue to whitewash an obviously violent reality, often fuelled by diaspora-based stakeholders.
Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat in California, has lobbied for sending increased security aid to India, citing the country’s crucial role in supporting the United States’ interests with regards to China.
Likewise, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) lobbied US lawmakers to stifle Representative Pramila Jayapal’s condemnation of the Modi government’s revocation of the semi-autonomous status granted to Indian-occupied Kashmir.
For years, diasporic voices—spearheaded by Muslim and Dalit organizers—have been persistent in addressing the ethnonationalism and casteism that has become a feature of “Indianness” in the homeland and abroad.
Many of these groups are leading the fight on the Hill and in human rights spaces, pushing back against their conservative counterparts and bringing to light a different Indian-American voice.
