US delegation to press New Delhi over ‘human rights’ concerns

India’s “backslide in human rights” is likely to be on the agenda when a high-powered bipartisan American congressional delegation lands in New Delhi next week to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address marking the nation’s 76th Independence Day, The Hindu newspaper has reported. 

The visit will be the first time that a US political delegation – led by Ro Khanna, a four-time Indian-American Democrat congressman from California, and Republican Michael Waltz from Florida – has joined the August 15 celebrations.  

Khanna and Waltz, who are co-chairs of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on India and Indian- Americans, issued a joint statement ahead of their visit in which they advocated India’s role in ensuring “multipolarity in Asia” amid Washington’s bid to keep “hegemon” China at bay.   

“Both of us believe that the US-India relationship will be a defining one of the 21st Century. India is a key partner in ensuring multipolarity in Asia and the denial of China as a hegemon. We must continue to strive to make progress and build our partnership based on our shared founding values of democracy, freedom of the press and assembly, and human rights. This delegation is a historic opportunity to drive further collaboration and advance shared aims,” the co-chairs said in the statement.  

For Khanna, history comes full circle as his grandfather Amarnath Vidyalankar was an Indian freedom fighter who spent four years in jail alongside Mahatma Gandhi, and later became a member of the newly independent country’s first parliament.  

Ahead of the trip, Khanna reportedly met with civil society activists, many of whom raised concerns over democratic freedoms in India and took part in protests in New York and Washington prior to Modi’s visit to the US in June. According to a coalition of human rights groups, Khanna “fully recognized concerns” they articulated and “wholeheartedly endorse[d] the imperative of fostering a pluralistic and democratic India.”   

The Democrat congressman reportedly “expressed his desire to protect minority rights in India,” having previously drawn flak for describing Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as an MP earlier this year as a “deep betrayal of Gandhian philosophy,” while recalling his grandfather’s sacrifice for India’s freedom movement.  

The report in The Hindu also noted that Khanna has been a proponent of India-US defense ties and proposed an amendment last year to offer New Delhi a waiver on sanctions for its defense contract with Russia for S-400 air defense systems.  

The visit by the American delegation comes a month after the US under secretary of state for democracy and human rights and special coordinator for Tibetan issues, Uzra Zeya, traveled to India for talks focusing on “advancing shared solutions to global challenges, democracy, regional stability, and cooperation on humanitarian relief.”

Shortly before the visit, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti commented on the situation in Manipur, the remote state in northeast India where ethnic violence has been raging since early May. The US diplomat said Washington was ready to help India tackle the crisis if asked. “You don’t have to be an Indian to care about children or individuals dying in the sort of violence we see…,” Garcetti said, causing surprise in New Delhi for speaking on domestic matters. 

Similarly, lawmakers at the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the Manipur unrest on the same day Modi landed on an official visit to France last month. New Delhi deemed the move “unacceptable” and reflecting “a colonial mindset.”     

Last week, the US State Department also waded into the communal clashes in the Nuh district in the state of Haryana, bordering New Delhi.  The administration of President Joe Biden urged the warring parties to “refrain from violence” amid concerns over its impact on the upcoming G20 leadership summit to be held in Delhi next month.

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