On China, there were blips visible in the labyrinths of the joint

statement, despite India’s otherwise conciliatory approach. While

significant arms transfers were agreed to, the repeated references in
the joint statement to technology cooperation and transfer were more
in the domain of optics than substance. The Biden administration
agreed to work with Congress to loosen export controls on high
performance computers.

Modi suffered a setback in his attempts to calm US concerns over his

government’s commitments to democracy and human rights. The
Biden administration succeeded in breaching Modi’s eight year
resistance to face a press conference, even if he took just two
questions. While economic cooperation was writ large in the joint
statement which stated that bilateral trade had nearly doubled since
2014, the Biden administration did not yield on the crucial issue of
recognising India as a Trade Agreement Act designated country.

Furore over human rights

The US media was angry at the red carpet being rolled out for
Modi. Alyssa Ayres’s article in TIME magazine accused Modi of
breaking ‘with India’s past, most notably in his emphasis on India’s
Hindu, rather than syncretic and secular, cultural heritage’. Knox
Thames accused Modi of ‘scapegoating religious minorities’. While
the New York Times accused Biden of downsizing democracy
concerns, an article in the Washington Post opined that Modi’s India
‘increasingly resembled an autocracy in which religious minorities are
under attack’.

Also read: US Media’s Critical Coverage of Modi Visit Places Human

Rights Front and Centre

Not just the entire US media, Democratic Party heavyweights too

attacked Modi’s human rights record. Just before Modi landed in the
US, a letter by over 70 Congressmen, all Democrats, urged Biden to
discuss with Modi the need to protect human rights and democratic
values in India.
As if this was not enough, President Obama, the only US president to
attend a Republic Day parade in India, opened a massive broadside
against Modi during the visit by saying: ‘If the president meets with PM
Modi, then protection of Muslim minority in a Hindu majority India is
something worth mentioning…if you do not protect the rights of ethnic
minorities in India, then there is a strong possibility that India at some
point starts pulling apart’.

Not only did Biden discuss the issue of human rights with Modi, he was
constrained to admit somewhat sheepishly that he and Modi had ‘a
good discussion about democratic values’.

This unrelenting onslaught was happening despite Modi speaking on

democracy before the US Congress for almost 10 minutes in his 58
minute speech. The focus on democracy was not lost even when he
spoke on climate change, saying ‘A spirit of democracy, inclusion and
sustainability defines us’. He claimed that India was working to even
‘democratise supply chains’!

Modi’s failure to convince the US political class about his commitment

to protecting human rights, especially of minorities, is important
because he went to great lengths to convince them of this. The White
House’s public response to the BJP-led Islamophobic trolling of an
Indian American reporter for asking Modi a question about Muslims
gives us an indication of what the Biden administration really thinks
about the Modi government’s record.
First Lady Jill Biden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden at the White
House. Photo: Twitter/@WhiteHouse.

Russia and China

On global geopolitics, Modi, despite theatrics, and there were many,

chose the path of balance. Without mentioning Russia and China, he
alluded to them in the context of the war in Ukraine and in the context
of developments in the Asia Pacific region. US Congressmen gave him
a standing ovation when he called for ‘respect for sovereignty and
integrity’ in the context of the war in Ukraine, and when he said ‘we
share a vision of a free open and inclusive Indo-Pacific connected by
secure seas’. On the Quad, Modi’s comment, ‘the Quad has emerged
as a major force of good for the region’ was quite bland. In an hour-
long speech, the total time devoted to Ukraine was about one minute
and to the Indo-Pacific about two minutes.

On Ukraine, Modi was reiterating the exact position that ambassador

T.S. Tirumurti, India’s permanent representative to UN, had taken on
February 25, 2022 while abstaining on the UNSC’s ‘Adoption of
Resolution on the situation in Ukraine’. His stand on the Indo-Pacific
was exactly the position taken by defence minister Rajnath Singh on
November 23, 2022 at the ‘9th ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting’ at
Siem Reap, Cam