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    Alyssa Ayres's Article in TIME Magazine: Furore Over Human Rights

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    The US media and Democratic politicians strongly criticized Modi's government over its treatment of religious minorities in India and commitment to democratic values during his visit. President Obama directly urged Biden to raise protection of Muslim minorities with Modi. While Biden did discuss human rights with Modi, he only said they had a "good discussion" about democracy, suggesting the issues remain unresolved. Modi's failure to convince the US on protecting minority rights is significant as he worked hard to do so. The White House's response to Islamophobic attacks on a reporter also showed what it really thinks about India on human rights.

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    Alyssa Ayres's Article in TIME Magazine: Furore Over Human Rights

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    The US media and Democratic politicians strongly criticized Modi's government over its treatment of religious minorities in India and commitment to democratic values during his visit. President Obama directly urged Biden to raise protection of Muslim minorities with Modi. While Biden did discuss human rights with Modi, he only said they had a "good discussion" about democracy, suggesting the issues remain unresolved. Modi's failure to convince the US on protecting minority rights is significant as he worked hard to do so. The White House's response to Islamophobic attacks on a reporter also showed what it really thinks about India on human rights.

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    The US media and Democratic politicians strongly criticized Modi's government over its treatment of religious minorities in India and commitment to democratic values during his visit. President Obama directly urged Biden to raise protection of Muslim minorities with Modi. While Biden did discuss human rights with Modi, he only said they had a "good discussion" about democracy, suggesting the issues remain unresolved. Modi's failure to convince the US on protecting minority rights is significant as he worked hard to do so. The White House's response to Islamophobic attacks on a reporter also showed what it really thinks about India on human rights.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    7 views3 pages

    Alyssa Ayres's Article in TIME Magazine: Furore Over Human Rights

    Uploaded by

    DFRQGFRaGF
    The US media and Democratic politicians strongly criticized Modi's government over its treatment of religious minorities in India and commitment to democratic values during his visit. President Obama directly urged Biden to raise protection of Muslim minorities with Modi. While Biden did discuss human rights with Modi, he only said they had a "good discussion" about democracy, suggesting the issues remain unresolved. Modi's failure to convince the US on protecting minority rights is significant as he worked hard to do so. The White House's response to Islamophobic attacks on a reporter also showed what it really thinks about India on human rights.

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    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

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