PM Modi US Visit: Biden will not give lecture to Modi on the issue of human rights, White House made it clear

US President Joe Biden will welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday for two days of talks. The White House sees it as one of the defining partnerships, despite ongoing concerns about human rights. Washington wants India to become a strategic counterweight to China, while PM Modi is trying to increase the influence of what is now the world’s most populous country on the world stage. President Biden and PM Modi are expected to announce a number of agreements related to defense cooperation and sales, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and investments in India by Micron Technology and other US companies.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters that Biden is expected to bring up US concerns about democratic backwardness in India, but he would not lecture PM Modi on the subject. Sullivan said when America sees challenges to freedom of the press, religious or otherwise, we make our views known. He said that we do this in a way where we do not try to lecture or claim that we do not have our own challenges.

Sullivan said that ultimately where the question of politics and democratic institutions in India goes is being determined by Indians. It is not being dictated by the United States. Prime Minister Modi has visited the United States five times since becoming prime minister in 2014, but this trip will be his first with the full diplomatic status of a state visit.