Shared democratic values of India, US stressed as PM receives American Congress delegation

The “shared democratic values” of India and the United States were underscored by both sides as Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a visiting delegation of the American Congress in New Delhi on Wednesday.

“Strong bipartisan support from the US Congress is instrumental in further elevating India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership,” the prime minister posted on X after his meeting with eight members of the US House of Representatives.

The delegation included Ro Khanna and Michael Waltz, respectively the Democratic and Republican co-chairs of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans.

Khanna and Waltz were joined by Ed Case, Kat Cammack, Deborah Ross, Jasmine Crockett, Rich McCormick and Shri Thanedar, all members of the US House of Representatives.

Modi conveyed his “appreciation for the consistent bipartisan support of the American Congress for India-US relations”. The prime minister and the US lawmakers highlighted that the Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership between India and America is “based on shared democratic values, respect for rule of law and strong people-to-people ties”.

The Modi Government hosted the delegation of the American Congress even as a section of the US Congress in New Delhi in the past expressed concerns over allegations about the backsliding of democracy in India.

Khanna, himself, had a meeting with some human rights activists before commencing his visit to India. He was purportedly urged to raise the issues related to human rights during his visit to India. The Democratic Party’s member in the US House of Representatives, however, had a meeting with a well-known right-wing columnist in New Delhi, triggering questions on X. “I’m often criticized for speaking with people I disagree. But I continue to think we shouldn’t shy away from debates and opportunities to engage people who have different ideologies. My core values have never changed as a result of meeting people,” Khanna, known as a Progressive Democrat in the US, posted on X, replying to the criticism.

Modi’s spectacular state visit to Washington DC and his meetings with Joe Biden on June 22 last came under a bit of a shadow as 75 Democrat members of the American Congress wrote to the US president requesting him to convey concerns over reports of growing religious intolerance, shrinking of political space, curbs on freedom of the press and erosion of human rights in India.

At least six US lawmakers had also boycotted the prime minister’s address to a joint sitting of the US Congress – alleging repression of religious minorities during his tenure at the top office in New Delhi. Even as Biden hosted Modi at the White House in Washington DC, former US president Barack Obama said during an interview with CNN that if the rights of the minority Muslims in India were not protected, the country might someday start to pull apart. He had even suggested that the issue of protection of minority Muslims in Hindu-majority India was worth mentioning if the president of the US had a meeting with the prime minister of India.

Modi did not directly respond to Obama, but the former US president did draw flak from the ruling BJP’s leaders in India, including heavyweights like union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sharma.

A journalist of Wall Street Journal, Sabrina Siddiqui, was also at the receiving end of a vitriolic campaign on social media platforms as she had asked a question to the prime minister during his joint press conference with the US president at the White House on June 22 about the state of democracy and religious freedom in India. The online harassment of the journalist already drew flak from the White House.