Biden will not lecture PM Modi on human rights: WH
United States President Joe Biden is likely to bring up deterioration of democracy in India but he will not lecture Narendra Modi on the subject, Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor of the United States, told reporters on Tuesday, 20 June.
When the US sees challenges to the press and religious or other freedoms, “we make our views known” but “we do so in a way where we don’t seek to lecture or assert that we don’t have challenges ourselves,” he further added.
However, a number of lawmakers belonging to Biden’s Democratic Party have raised concerns about Modi’s human rights record and have urged Biden to raise the matter with Indian Prime Minister As longtime supporters of a strong US-India relationship, we also believe that friends can and should discuss their differences in an honest and forthright way,” read the letter signed by 75 lawmakers, including Indian-American lawmaker Pramila Jayapal.
“That is why we respectfully request that - in addition to the many areas of shared interests between India and the US - you also raise directly with Prime Minister Modi areas of concern,” the letter read.
Describing India as an important member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad) and a crucial partner for stability in the Indo-Pacific, the letter said that the lawmakers support the deepening strategic partnership between the two countries.
“You have once again made respect for human rights, press freedom, religious freedom, and pluralism core tenets of American foreign policy. Moreover, these tenets are necessary to the functioning of true democracy. In order to advance these values with credibility on the world stage, we must apply them equally to friend and foe alike, just as we work to apply these same principles here in the United States,” it said.
The letter mentioned reports about “the shrinking of political space, the rise of religious intolerance, the targeting of civil society organizations and journalists, and growing restrictions on press freedoms and internet access” in India and also referred to the State Department’s 2022 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in India.
