America should not mistake Modi for India

This affection manifested itself recently – and embarrassingly – when US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, dressed in colorful Indian dress and gesturing loudly, praised Modi as a “visionary” who was “incredible”, even was also “indescribable”. No doubt, Modi’s India as the world’s largest arms buyer, a lucrative market for American capital and goods, and the home country of a prosperous, politically consequential and largely Democrat-voting diaspora is popular with many American leaders. It is irresistible.

But India is also a country where, as authors including Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai and Jhumpa Lahiri pointed out in a signed statement last year, “hate speech is loudly expressed and disseminated; where Muslims are discriminated against and lynched, their homes and mosques are bulldozed, their livelihoods destroyed; where Christians were beaten and churches were attacked; Where political prisoners are kept in jail without trial.

Modi’s Western cheerleaders obscure the depth of fear about his government among the large and globally prominent Indian intelligentsia, not to mention respected institutions such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and the Committee to Protect Journalists. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum recently placed India at the eighth position, above Syria and Somalia, in a list of 162 countries at risk of mass killings.

It is hard to see how a Biden administration could grow closer to such a government without risking America’s long-term reputation and material interests.

For one, Modi’s dominance of Indian politics is hardly complete, despite his government’s use of the judiciary, tax authorities, and security and intelligence agencies against critics. He has been particularly unsuccessful in persuading voters in India’s richest states in the south; His Bharatiya Janata Party still gets only a little over a third of the national vote. And it is still unclear how electorally powerful Hindu nationalism will be in India’s poorest and most populous states once Modi himself fades from the scene.

Furthermore, as the recent violence in the state of Manipur shows, government attempts at social engineering in border areas with non-Hindu populations can fundamentally destabilize India. America cannot afford to be seen once again taking the disastrously wrong side of a nation’s existential struggle.

American support for autocrats in Latin America sowed the seeds of apparently inexhaustible anti-Americanism in the region. More recently, former President George W. Bush found Vladimir Putin “very straightforward and trustworthy”. The dangers of such misjudgments are even greater today, amid the global rise of authoritarian and neo-fascist regimes.

Biden repeatedly emphasizes that America stands for democracy against autocracy. If this is not just some expedient rhetoric, policy makers need to bring ethical principles into line with policy.

As it happens, the challenge is less onerous than it might seem in the case of India – especially compared to Saudi Arabia. And it need not include ethics about the merits of democracy and pluralism. Because Modi himself never fails to declare India as the “mother of democracy” and the originator of the idea that “the world is one family.”

The US government should accept Modi’s invitation for a wider and naturally flowing relationship between India and the world. It must reach out to India’s battered and beleaguered political opposition; It should publicly talk to Indian intellectuals. And, when his government complains about foreign interference, it should heed Modi to his vision of a traditionally cosmopolitan and open Indian society.

In any case, Modi himself has invited foreigners into Indian politics by consistently projecting his popularity among foreign leaders to woo Indian voters. If Biden wishes, he can innovatively use the glamor and authority invested in his office and forge a closer and more multi-faceted relationship between the US and India.

For those who are looking for it, there is a middle ground between praising Modi as an incredible visionary and sternly lecturing him about India’s democratic deficit. There is ample room for a US policy that is both pragmatic and ethical, that not only recognizes India’s geostrategic and economic importance but also respects the pluralistic politics and culture of its society.

By blatantly flattering Modi, the Biden administration instead echoes former President Donald Trump’s callousness of the powerful. It also reminds us of US adversaries Russia and China, who are all too happy to strike lucrative deals with apparently intolerant regimes, turning a blind eye to their violations of civil liberties and common decency.

Perhaps we cannot expect much more as the big powers are aggressively fighting for military and economic advantage. But even in our darkly moral, multipolar world it is worth striving for a greater common good.

Pankaj Mishra is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is most recently the author of “Run and Hide”.

Updated: June 22, 2023, 01:26 AM IST