US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a veiled warning Wednesdayabout Indian democracy backsliding in his first official visit to New Delhi.
Rights groups say civil liberties and the space for dissent are underincreasing attack in the world’s biggest democracy under Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s government.
Blinken told civil society groups — his first appointment before meetingForeign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Modi — that the United Statesand India are “connected by shared values” such as rule of law and freedomof religion.
But he added: “Both of our democracies are works in progress… As I saidbefore, sometimes that process is painful. Sometimes it’s ugly. But thestrength of democracy is to embrace it.”
“At a time of rising global threats to democracy and international freedoms-– we talk about a democratic recession –- it’s vital that we twoworld-leading democracies continue to stand together in support of theseideals.”
Under Modi, India has made growing use of anti-terrorism legislation and”sedition” laws to arrest campaigners, journalists, students and others,critics say.
Earlier this month, an 84-year-old priest and tribal rights activist,charged with terrorism offences, died after nine months in custody,prompting international outrage including from the UN High Commissioner forHuman Rights.
The Hindu nationalist administration has also brought in legislation thatdetractors say discriminates against India’s 170-million-strong Muslimminority.
The government denies cracking down on criticism and says people of allreligions have equal rights.Taliban, China
In the talks proper, Indian officials were expected to express alarm overTaliban gains in Afghanistan and to press Blinken for more support in NewDelhi’s border standoff with China.
US-India relations have historically been prickly but China’s growingassertiveness pushed them closer, particularly since deadly clashes lastyear on the disputed Indo-Chinese Himalayan frontier.
India is part of the Quad alliance with the United States, Japan andAustralia, seen as a bulwark against China.
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But according to Brahma Chellaney, strategic affairs expert at India’sCentre for Policy Research, US backing has “slipped a notch” since JoeBiden took over from Donald Trump as president.
“India is locked in a military standoff with China but unlike top Trumpadministration officials who publicly condemned China’s aggression andbacked India, no one in Team Biden has so far lent open support to India,”Chellaney told AFP.
Biden has further riled New Delhi with Washington’s “rushed and poorlyplanned exit from Afghanistan”, Chellaney added.
India is worried that a possible takeover by the Taliban, which it sees asbacked by its arch-rival Pakistan, will turn the country into a base formilitants to attack India.
The Taliban welcomed virulently anti-Indian extremists when the SunniMuslim militants ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
A hijacked Indian airliner was flown to the Taliban bastion of Kandahar in1999.
India, a firm backer of the Afghan government with billions of dollars indevelopment aid, recently evacuated 50 staff from its Kandahar consulatedue to the worsening security situation.
The talks in a monsoon-soaked New Delhi were also set to cover jointefforts on making Covid-19 vaccines and climate change.
India, on course to become the planet’s populous country, is the world’sthird-biggest carbon emitter and is on the front line of the ravages ofglobal warming. -APP/AFP
