Biden fêtes Modi

In 2005 the government of George W Bush banned Narendra Modi from the US for his role in the 2002 Gujarat massacres, in which thousands of Muslims were killed. Now, after nine years transforming India as a whole into an authoritarian ethno-nationalist regime, Modi is being welcomed by a supposedly progressive US government.

Despite warnings from South Asian American and human rights organisations about the "fast autocratising" Indian government's "escalating attacks on human rights and democracy", on 22 June the Indian prime minister will meet Joe Biden and address a joint session of the two houses of the US Congress. Biden and congressional leaders have made it clear they will be fêting Modi and not challenging him on his disastrous human rights record. The White House's official statement cants about "our two countries' shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific".

South Asian organisations and allies will be protesting in Washington and elsewhere in the US when Modi visits. We send them solidarity.

As an aside, but an important one, in boosting Modi Biden et al are not only betraying democracy and human rights in India but also in Ukraine. The BJP regime has refused to condemn Russia's war and practically supported it by buying huge quantities of Russian oil, up tenfold in 2022.

Hindu nationalist influence is even stronger in the US than in the UK. When Modi was embraced by Donald Trump at a Texas rally in 2019, the politicians on stage included six Democratic Party members of Congress. One of them, Raja Krishnamoorthi, is an open supporter of the Hindu far right.

Prominent “progressive” Congressman Ro Khanna, the co-chair of Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign, on economic issues far to the left of Biden, was previously sharply critical of Modi. Now he has moved so far that he was one of those who formally requested for Modi to address Congress.

It seems unlikely that Khanna has been won over to Hindu nationalism, and more likely he is behaving opportunistically for political advantage.

The warm welcome Modi is receiving in the US is not just a matter of Hindu nationalist influence. It is widely noted that the US government and political establishment see India as a crucial counterweight to the Chinese regime (hence "Indo-Pacific", etc) as well as an important economic “partner” for American capitalism.

We face a similar, if less severe, problem here. Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership has severely pandered to the Hindu right, despite Hindu nationalists aiding the Tories.