Al Jazeera :
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been officially welcomed at the White House as part of a state visit, kicking off a day of events that will be capped by a lavish state dinner.
Modi was greeted by US President Joe Biden on Thursday, as a military band played both countries’ national anthems and soldiers paraded on the south lawn. The Indian leader met chants of “Modi, Modi, Modi” from supporters. Protesters also gathered outside the White House gates.
“I’ve long believed the relationship between the United States and India will be one of the defining relationships of the 21st century,” Biden said. “Prime Minister Modi, welcome back to the White House.”
“The challenges and opportunities facing the world in this century require that India and the United States work and lead together, and we are,” he said, hailing the informal “Quad” group of the US, India, Australia and Japan – long seen as a bulwark against China – as well as efforts to protect critical technologies and what Biden called shared core principles of “equity under the law, freedom of expression, religious pluralism, diversity of our people”.
Speaking in Hindi, Modi responded that he did not think he could thank Biden enough “for his warm welcome and his far-sighted speech. Thank you, President Biden,
for your friendship.”
“This grand welcome ceremony of the White House today is an honour and pride for 1.4 billion people of India,” he said. “This is also an honour for more than four million people of Indian origin living in the US.”
“The two countries are committed to work together for the global good and for global peace, stability and prosperity. Our strong strategic partnership is a clear proof of the power of democracy,” Modi said, adding that the “world order is taking a new shape”.
Despite the pomp rolled out by the White House, Modi’s visit has been overshadowed by a wide array of calls for Biden to address human rights abuses that international monitors say have flourished under the prime minister’s leadership.Those calls have come from religious freedom, press freedom and other civil liberty groups. Seventy-five legislators from the president’s Democratic Party have also pushed the Biden administration to address the rights concerns during the visit with three progressive Democrats – US Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib – saying they would boycott Modi’s address to Congress.
“I encourage my colleagues who stand for pluralism, tolerance and freedom of the press to join me in doing the same,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a Twitter post on Wednesday.
Critics have said Modi’s administration has leaned into a Hindu nationalism that has targeted minorities, eroded democracy and shrugged off human rights. They accuse the Biden administration of turning a blind eye in the name of geopolitics.
