Democratic backsliding, counter to China: How US media looked at Modi’s visit

Amid prime minister Narendra Modi’s four-day state visit to the US, most of the western media was riveted on his journey from being prohibited from visiting the country for almost 10 years for “severe violations of religious freedom” to US president Joe Biden rolling out the red carpet for him at the White House.

Across the spectrum, media outlets called out Biden’s ‘temporary truce’ with his democracy vs autocracy campaign pitch, as reports asserted that democracy concerns loom large over India under its Hindu nationalist government. 

But the reports struck a balancing act – taking note of China’s swelling economic and military prominence and asserting that the strengthening ties between India and the US are in shared interest: key to counter China. 

The reports also emphasised India’s growing clout on the global stage. While the focus of the critics remained on “democratic backsliding”, few criticised India’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict with old fervour. 

A ‘vanishingly rare’ press meet

Meanwhile, in a “vanishingly rare” press interaction, as the New York Times termed it, the Indian prime minister fielded two live questions from journalists in Washington on Thursday. It also noted that any exposure to unscripted events has been a no-go for Modi. During the press conference, over an American journalist’s question on human rights and free speech in India, Modi said “democracy runs in our veins” and there is “absolutely no space for discrimination”.

The Indian prime minister is one of the rare guests to be hosted by US president Joe Biden for a state dinner – only the third since Biden’s presidency began in January 2021 – ostensibly in a show of the deepening ties between the two countries. After landing in the US on June 21, Modi has taken part in the International Yoga Day celebrations in New York, engaged with Tesla chief Elon Musk and attended coveted dinners organised by the US president. 

India and the US also announced a series of defence and trade agreements on Thursday. These include the Biden administration’s pledge for easier renewal of H1B visas for Indians and setting up of more consulates, Micron Technology’s $825 million investment in a chip assembly unit in Gujarat, India’s inclusion in the Minerals Security Partnership, Indian solar panel maker Vikram Solar’s $1.5 billion investment in the US, a joint mission with the NASA and most prominently, India’s procurement of 31 armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones and its “historical deal” with General Electric to produce fighter jet engines in India.    

This grand reception of Modi, who was once shunned by the US, a CNN report observed, comes with the Biden government seemingly passing over New Delhi’s “alleged human rights abuses”. Some reports said these concerns are likely to be addressed by the Biden administration behind closed doors. 

A common foe 

At the centre of this cementing of ties between India and the US is their “shared concerns” over China as a key priority, according to the CNN report.

For the US, its Beijing conundrum is the country’s growing military might, economic influence and aggressive territorial claims. In fact, Modi’s visit comes close behind US secretary of state Antony Blinken’s “tense trip” to China, the Washington Post reported, followed by Biden calling his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping a “dictator”. Amid strained trade relations, the two countries have also snapped military-to-military contacts.

In this backdrop, the US is “forced” to accept the flaws of its friends, a New York Times report observed, highlighting that Biden’s embrace of Modi presides over “democratic backsliding in the world’s most populous nation”. 

A Foreign Affairs report noted that even as the two countries’ shared values “have grown weaker”, their shared interests have only magnified.

India and China have been in a military standoff along their 3,500 km border for over three years. Encroachment of land by Chinese troops in Ladakh in 2020 led to a bloody clash between the two sides, killing dozens of soldiers, the Guardian reported. Both Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh saw clashes between the Chinese and Indian soldiers. The Guardian and the Washington Post reports included these details.   

India as indispensable, ‘bulwark’ against China 

The US officials see India as “one of the bulwarks” against China, the NYT underlined. 

The Washington Post echoed the view, and observed that India’s trade with the US has “boomed under Modi’s watch”, and the country is now often seen by the US as “a potential bulwark”. An op-ed by the publication’s editorial board reiterated India’s case as a bulwark against China and said it “has never been more urgent”.

India has risen to be an “indispensable” force for the US in its effort to “assert itself in Asia and deter Chinese aggression”, The Economist noted. An illustration of Biden embracing a tiger featured with the article.  

Meanwhile, a report on Fox News, the most popular conservative media voice in the US, said Biden will “court” India, which under the Modi-government has “grown cooler”. The report said that India has increased its proximity to Russia and “even China” despite the US’ strained relations with those nations.    

It claimed that India and the US “shared a rosier dynamic” during the Trump administration, “with each leader speaking glowingly of his counterpart” – a reference perhaps to Modi’s 2019 visit to the US.

This dynamic “initially cooled” as Biden took over as president, the report said, adding that India seemingly gave “some support” to Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine.

Another report on Fox News underlined that India's foreign minister has “expressed a worldview involving frenemies”, emphasising the “absence of true allies”. It said that the US president, however, “views India as a crucial partner”.  

Meanwhile, a Times report read, “To be sure, India has arrived. The US wants a closer, stronger, and more meaningful relationship with India as a destination of investments, as a strategic ally, and as a bulwark against the rise of China… no doubt India is a military power.” However, expressing skepticism, the report said India’s interpretation of “its own interests” are not aligned with the interests of the West.

The report highlighted India’s silence over the political unrest in Myanmar and the war in Ukraine. It also observed that the country’s treatment of its Muslim population “has worsened”.

Another report on the “folly of India’s neutrality” in Foreign Affairs asserted that New Delhi “must align” with the US in face of Chinese aggression.

The US, however, is not alone in rolling out the red carpet for Modi. The Financial Times reported that the Indian prime minister also boasts of an invitation from France’s Emmanuel Macron to be a guest of honour at Bastille Day Parade next month. Modi is also set to pay a state visit to Egypt this week on the invitation of its president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.  

Crucial defence ties

The Washington Post had earlier reported that a series of “major announcements” are awaited, including a “major deal to manufacture General Electric fighter-jet engines in India”. The landmark deal between GE and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited will rest India’s chase for advanced combat jet engine technology. These GE engines will power the country's Tejas fighter jets. 

On New Delhi’s purchase of “General Atomics armed drones”, the report said it can help India “detect and counter” moves by the Chinese military.

The report added that the “provision of sophisticated jet engine technology” has never been shared by the US even with treaty allies, and has the “potential to bind” India and the US’ defence industries “for years to come”.

However, a Guardian report earlier said there is “little expectation” of trade deals between the two countries. This, despite the interest “on both sides” in building India as an economic and manufacturing alternative to China. It further said that the countries engaged in trade worth $191 billion in 2022 – with the US becoming India’s largest trading partner. 

Ukraine conspicuous by absence

Many of India’s biggest supporters in the US Congress are “angered” over its “behaviour” regarding Ukraine, a Foreign Affairs report said.  

No country other than China has “propped up” Russia’s post war economy as much as India, The Economist noted. It said that the US is not likely to make any mention of Ukraine and democracy to not wound its “new best friendship”.

The Biden administration has now “accepted India’s deep-rooted relationship with Russia” declared a report in the Guardian. 

The NYT wrote that the US sees Modi’s visit as a “critical moment” to build on its relationship with “one of the leading swing states” – a country which hasn’t taken a definitive side in the Russia-Ukraine war. Most of the reports were devoid of criticism of India’s Ukraine stance, sounding more matter-of-factly.    

An analysis on Foreign Policy said Biden insists that the US is in a “long game” of engagement with India, undeterred by the two countries’ differences over Ukraine. It said, “Despite India’s ties to Moscow—or rather, because of them—the Biden administration is also going out of its way to help India modernise its defense industry.”

Human rights, press freedom on back-burner, protests 

Biden’s pushing aside of “concerns over human rights” and “fears of an authoritarian turn” in India’s story remained a recurrent theme in the media reports.  

Modi’s governance as “an autocratic-leaning Hindu nationalist”, a report in Politico said, has been more than “a mere inconvenience” for Biden, who has been drawing criticism from human rights advocates and also Democratic representatives.

It observed that the Modi-led government has “overseen a crackdown” on journalists and opposition leaders, besides the larger targeting of Muslims.

The NYT report detailed that opposition leaders in India are “frequently raided by investigating agencies” and “bogged down” in court cases. It mentioned Rahul Gandhi’s ousting from the Parliament over the defamation cases lodged against him.

The Modi-led government has “at all levels” adopted policies that “systematically” discriminate against Muslims, said an editorial opinion in the Washington Post. It emphasised that Indian authorities act with impunity and in some states properties of Muslims are demolished in response to protests.

Ahead of Modi’s visit, the Human Rights Watch had urged the Biden administration to put “rights concerns” at the center of the meeting between the US and India. The CNN report quoted parts of the organisation statement: “Modi and Biden should jointly acknowledge human rights challenges – both in India and the US – and agree to address them.”

The HRW and Amnesty International were also set to hold a screening of the BBC documentary on Modi. 

The Reuters reported that Biden’s fellow Democrats have also put him “under pressure” to raise human rights concerns with Modi. At least 75 Democrats, including senators and members of the house of representatives, have written to the US president to discuss concerns of press freedom and religious intolerance in India. Senators Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib are among half-dozen liberal House Democrats who have announced their decision to boycott the Indian prime minister’s speech at the joint session of the US Congress.

In an interview with CNN on Thursday, former US president Barack Obama said the “protection of Muslim minority in a majority Hindu India is something worth mentioning” if president Biden meets with prime minister Modi. He said if the rights of ethnic minorities are not protected in India, there is a strong possibility that the country, at some point, “starts pulling apart”.

Meanwhile, the Politico said that the White House officials had pledged that Biden will “privately take Modi to task” over human rights, but that will have “far less symbolism than a public rebuke”. 

A day ahead of Modi’s visit, a full-page advertisement by the CPJ and its partner organisations in the Washington Post had highlighted the “press freedom crisis in India”.