Artwork: Sresta Aitharaju
On June 21, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to the White House. President Biden and his family welcomed him with ceremony and showered him with gifts, hosting him for private and state dinners after multiple speeches on the White House lawn. This visit was intended by the Biden administration to underscore the two countries’ strong partnership, since the US sees India as a crucial ally in the effort to curb China’s power. The two leaders met in private to discuss the future of their economic partnership. Indian-Americans from all over watched from the crowd on the lawn or on their phones, wondering what this signified for their futures.
Some of the Indian diaspora sees this grand welcome as a great sign of progress, because India has never been afforded this type of respect on the world stage before. India has been an important economic player for decades because of its massive population, much of which is working-age and speaks English. But it has a long history of being taken advantage of by world powers, both during British colonialism and in its weakened state after independence. It has never been truly in the midst of things, so such a warm welcome from the global superpower that is the United States is a sign that India’s global status has risen.
Receiving this type of acknowledgement and respect also means the American population has started to know and care more about India. Indian Americans who grew up here have been dealing with ignorant stereotypes about cab drivers, IT workers, and spicy food for decades. Almost one-fifth of the world’s population has been dismissed or mocked by people who don’t know enough about the country or its residents. Biden’s enthusiastic welcome of Modi could provoke change in Americans, bringing about more awareness and respect for India.
PM Modi is well-liked by the majority of India’s population. He is the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, which directly translates to the “Indian people’s party,” and his leadership has been focused on the common man. In the aftermath of British colonialism, India’s progress was often slow and stilted. Modi’s administration led to decreasing poverty rates, improving infrastructure, and a generally higher quality of life. His stance on foreign policy boosted the country’s economy after he put India on the map as a global power and strengthened international relations. In the 9 years since Modi’s election, India has gained more security and recognition, which for the world’s most populous nation, has been long overdue.
But the prime minister is not loved by all. Recently, he’s come into increased scrutiny by human rights groups. Modi is a strong promoter of Hindu nationalism, and his policies have created a deepening divide between Hindus and Muslims in India. Tensions between the two groups have existed since before the Partition in 1947—the bloody division of India, following its independence from Britain, into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
Modi’s election in 2014 has further strained their relationship. Angry mobs have burned down both Muslim mosques and Hindu temples, and lynched or murdered people of the other religion, while Modi has been notably silent about this violence. In fact, in 2005 as Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi was banned from entering the United States for “violations of religious freedom” because of his complicity during Hindu mobs’ violent retaliation against Muslim attacks. Modi also furthers his Hindu nationalist goals systemically: he’s perpetuated discrimination in employment and housing, changed historic Muslim city names to Hindu ones, and censored articles and reporters who criticize him. Muslims have less representation than ever; today, they hold only 5% of seats in the Indian parliament—the lowest percentage in history—though they make up 14.2% of the total population.
These human rights concerns make the prime minister more controversial among Indian Americans than their counterparts living in India. While many applaud his foreign affairs and economic policies, Muslim Indian Americans often feel like their religion, culture, and livelihood are in danger. NBC says the Indian American diaspora’s approval rating of Modi is less than two-thirds of what it is back in India. Why such a big difference? For immigrants raised in the US, it may be that the values that have been pushed since birth, like freedom, liberty, and equality, are ingrained into the mind. Second-generation immigrants often have differing political views from older generations as a product of the more progressive environment they grew up in. “College-educated young people who grew up in the U.S. are distancing themselves from Modi’s politics,” says Ajit Sahi of the Indian American Muslim Council.
Many Indian Americans living in the States also see India’s foreign policy differently because of the US’s Western or European political alignment. Modi and his administration have a nonalignment policy and want to distance themselves from a Eurocentric worldview, choosing to hold their own views while having allies in various, sometimes opposing, world powers, like the US and Russia. Indian Americans are undoubtedly influenced by US politics, and might not always agree with Modi’s stance. But they are much more critical of Modi’s anti-democratic leanings, which threaten India’s status as a secular state and its prided tradition of free speech and press.
Biden’s administration was asked by human rights groups to address India’s humanitarian concerns with Modi in their meeting and act as a push in the other direction. Spokespersons have said the issue was not addressed, and the meeting instead focused on the two countries’ new partnership. The probable reason for the US administration’s hesitance to bring the topic up is the States’ own democratic backslide, which unlike India’s, has received wide coverage. The past few years have been rife with events highlighting the human rights concerns in America (the murder of George Floyd and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, to name a few). If President Biden addressed India’s problems he could quickly be dismissed as hypocritical or racist. This situation could mean that instead of both nations calling each other out for their lapses in democracy and working to fix them, neither will.
In theory, the US and India are both diverse and rich democracies whose partnership will help uplift people’s freedom throughout the world. But as these two silently weakening democracies share closer ties, they may be dragging each other down instead. Of the visit, First Lady Jill Biden said, “Our relationship isn’t only about the government. We’re celebrating the families and friendships that span the globe, those who feel the bonds of home, in both of our countries.” For the millions of people who call both countries home, there is potential for both progress and decline, but the future remains uncertain.