India and US have work to do to strengthen democracies, says Antony Blinken

US has been conveying to the Modi government its concerns over the perception back home about the backsliding of democracy in India.

India and the United States have work to do to strengthen democracies in the respective nations, President Joe Biden’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington DC next week.

“Now, we know that India and the United States are big, complicated countries. We certainly have work to do to advance transparency, to promote market access, to strengthen our democracies, to unleash the full potential of our people,” Blinken said while speaking at an event hosted by the US-India Business Council in Washington D.C.

Biden will host Modi for an official state visit to Washington DC on June 22 next.

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Modi is likely to be accorded a grand welcome when he will reach Washington DC on June 21 after attending the International Yoga Day events in New York. Biden and his wife Jill Biden are likely to host a private dinner at the White House in his honour. The prime minister will be ceremonially welcomed on the South Lawns of the White House on June 22 morning. The US president will host a state dinner in honour of the prime minister later in the evening that day.

Blinken, himself, will also host a lunch at the headquarters of the US State Department at Foggy Bottom in Washington D.C. on June 23, when the prime minister will be joined by US Vice President Kamala Harris.

“We're here ahead of a historic state visit by Prime Minister Modi – one that will further solidify what President Biden has called a 'defining relationship' of the 21st century," said the US Secretary of State on Tuesday. “We see this defining relationship in our unique connection as the world's oldest and largest democracies, with a special obligation to demonstrate that our governments can deliver for and empower all our citizens.”

His comment signalled that while the Biden Administration would roll out the red carpet for Modi in Washington D.C., it would also continue to stress on upholding democratic principles in all future engagements between India and the US.

The prime minister, however, is likely to use his address to the US Congress to counter the criticism against his government on the issue of backsliding of democracy, human rights as well as on freedom of expression and religion in India.

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The Biden Administration has been conveying to the Modi Government in New Delhi its concerns over the perception in the US about the backsliding of democracy in India.

The US State Department last month released its 2022 Report on International Religious Freedom. The report referred to attacks against the religious minority communities, including the Muslims and the Christians, as well as the Dalit Hindus in India. The earlier reports of the US State Department on religious freedom have also been referring to the alleged incidents of atrocities and violence against the minority communities in India.

Blinken had on April 12 last year said that the US was “monitoring some recent concerning developments in India, including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police, and prison officials”. He had followed it up on June 2 that year stating that India, the world’s largest democracy and home to a great diversity of faiths, had seen rising attacks on people and places of worship. He had made the remark after releasing the US State Department’s 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom.

The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) too in its reports released in Washington D.C. recommended the Biden Administration to designate India as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ in view of the drastic downward turn in the religious freedom in the South Asian nation.