Protests planned for Modi's US visit over India's human rights

US human rights groups are planning to protest Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to Washington next week over what they say is India's deteriorating human rights record, although experts do not expect Washington to take on New Delhi.  Will be publicly criticized.

The American Indian Muslim Council, the Peace Movement, Veterans for Peace and the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition plan to gather near the White House on June 22 when Modi is scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden.

Washington hopes for closer ties with the world's largest democracy, which it sees as a counterweight to China, but human rights advocates worry that human rights issues could be overshadowed by geopolitics.  are  The US said its human rights concerns with India include the Indian government's targeting of religious minorities, dissidents and journalists.

Protest groups produced leaflets that read "Modi not welcome" and "Save India from Hindu supremacy".

Another event in New York is scheduled to feature a show called "Howdy Democracy," a 2019 play called "Howdy Modi!"  A rally in Texas attended by the then Indian and US Prime Ministers.  President Donald Trump.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have invited policymakers, journalists and analysts to a screening in Washington next week of a BBC documentary on Modi that questions his leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots.  was

In a letter to Biden, Alan Pearson, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, urged the White House to raise both private and public concerns about human rights in India during Modi's visit.

"We strongly urge you to use your meetings with Prime Minister Modi to urge Modi to take his government and his party in a different direction," he said in a letter to Reuters.  "

All this is unlikely to change the Biden-Modi talks, analysts said.

"I suspect that human rights will not be a major focus of the conversation," said Donald Kemp, a former US State Department official and part of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Camp said that while Modi's trip would be seen as a success by both sides, there would be reluctance on the part of Washington to raise human rights issues.

The US State Department said it regularly raises human rights concerns with Indian officials and respects the free speech rights of US citizens to protest against Modi.

A spokesman for India's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

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Civil Liberty Conference

Since Modi took office in 2014, India has fallen from 140th in the global press freedom index to 161st this year, its lowest ever, after five consecutive years of ranking globally.  Also tops the list of most internet outages.

Advocacy groups have also expressed concern over alleged human rights abuses under Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

They point to a 2019 nationality law that the UN Human Rights Office has described as "fundamentally discriminatory" by excluding Muslim immigrants.  Anti-conversion legislation that challenges the constitutionally protected right to freedom of belief.  and revoking the special status of Muslim-majority Kashmir in 2019.

In the name of removing illegal constructions, properties owned by Muslims were also demolished.  In the state of Karnataka, headscarves were banned in classrooms when the state was ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The Indian government has rejected this criticism, saying that its policies are aimed at the welfare of all communities and that it applies the law equally.  Modi is India's most popular leader and is widely expected to remain in office beyond next year's elections.

The administration of former US President George W. Bush denied Modi a visa in 2005 under a 1998 US law barring entry to foreigners who had committed "particularly serious violations of religious freedom". In 2002, when Modi had just become the chief minister of Gujarat, at least 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed in communal riots.

Modi has denied any wrongdoing.  An inquiry ordered by the Supreme Court of India found no evidence to prosecute him.  When he became Prime Minister, the US embargo was lifted.

Under Biden, Washington has voiced some muted concerns, including from Secretary of State Anthony Blanken and the State Department in their 2023 reports on human rights and religious freedom.

Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center think tank, said, "Certainly the China factor is the main reason why the US approaches issues of rights and democracy with kid gloves in India, but  It goes beyond that."  Washington.

"The US sees India as an important long-term partner."