India’s Modi praises U.S. democracy in address to Congress

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the foundations of American democracy in an address to a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday, emphasizing the importance of the partnership between the world’s two biggest democracies on a day of summitry that mixed geopolitics and commercial opportunity.

“Together, we shall give a better future to the world and a better world to the future,” Mr. Modi said to rousing bipartisan applause in remarks highlighting a state visit that many in Washington hope will foster closer U.S.-Indian coordination while countering an increasingly aggressive China.

The centerpiece of Mr. Modi’s four-day trip to the U.S. included talks and a rare press conference at the White House with President Biden, the speech to a joint meeting of Congress and a full-on state dinner.
 
Mr. Modi made no explicit mention of China in his nearly hourlong speech to lawmakers, delivered in English, although he signaled his agreement with U.S. concern over Beijing’s growing push for economic and political dominance over smaller nations in Asia and beyond.

“We share a vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” the prime minister said. He added that the “common vision” of U.S. and Indian democracy is “free of domination,” where “all nations, small and large, are free and fearless in their choices.”

Mr. Modi, who addressed Congress after a warm visit with President Trump in 2016, said, “Together, we shall demonstrate that democracy is better and democracies deliver.”

Administration officials said the White House meetings were capped by a slate of agreements to expand trade, technology and defense cooperation. The U.S. and India maintain close geopolitical ties but are not technically allies because of India’s historical resistance to military treaty alliances with any nation.

Talk of irritants in the relationship were kept to a minimum. Problem issues include India’s close military relationship with Russia, its refusal to endorse Western condemnations of the invasion of Ukraine and the human rights record of Mr. Modi’s strongly Hindu nationalist government.

One of the agreements will allow U.S.-based General Electric to partner with India-based Hindustan Aeronautics to produce jet engines for Indian aircraft in India and the sale of U.S.-made armed MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones, senior Biden administration officials said.

Officials also touted plans to bolster India’s microchip industry as part of the administration’s push to diversify U.S. supply chains and manufacturing bases for high-technology products away from China. U.S.-based Micron Technology agreed to put up nearly one-third of the investment to build a $2.75 billion semiconductor assembly and test facility in Mr. Modi’s home state in India.

U.S.-based Applied Materials is expected to launch a semiconductor center for commercialization and innovation in India. Lam Research, another semiconductor manufacturing equipment company, will start a training program for 60,000 Indian engineers, officials said.

India will sign on to the Artemis Accords, a blueprint for space exploration cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s lunar exploration plans. NASA and the Indian Space Research Organization also agreed to a joint mission to the International Space Station next year.

The White House welcomed the Indian prime minister and his team with the usual pomp and circumstance reserved for foreign leaders’ state visits, including marching bands, honor guards and a multi-gun salute on the South Lawn.

It was only the third state visit of Mr. Biden’s presidency. The White House hosted French President Emmanuel Macron in December and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in April.

“I’ve long believed the relationship between the United States and India will be the defining relationship of the 21st century,” Mr. Biden said at the arrival ceremony. He said the two nations’ “enduring ties and shared responsibility” will enable them to “tackle the great issues of our time together.”

Key foreign policy Republicans echoed that message. Among them were House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul of Texas and Rep. Young Kim of California, who chairs the panel’s Indo-Pacific subcommittee. He expressed support for “the deepening of ties” with India.

U.S. officials characterize India, which lags behind China as a U.S. trade partner, as an essential international partner for navigating the future of climate change, artificial intelligence, supply chain resilience and balancing an ascendant China. With 1.4 billion people, India surpassed China this year as the world’s most populous nation.

Mr. Biden made little direct reference to China during public remarks on Thursday.

At a joint news conference, the president broadly characterized the U.S.-Indian relationship as “among the most consequential in the world, that is stronger, closer and more dynamic than at any time in history.”

The president underscored how the two democracies cooperate on the climate, health care and space. He said the U.S.-Indian economic relationship was “booming.” Although India ranks eighth on the list of U.S. foreign trading partners, its economy has rapidly risen from the world’s 10th to fifth largest in recent years. China’s economy is ranked third.

Human rights concerns

Human rights groups have expressed wariness over the Biden administration’s embrace of Mr. Modi, whose strongly Hindu nationalist government is often accused of stifling dissent in India, and discriminating against India’s Muslims and other minorities.

There is also unease over India’s determination to maintain an independent course on foreign and security policy, given that Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is in Washington with Mr. Modi, has been known to espouse a worldview in which New Delhi has no allies or friends, only “frenemies.”

A half-dozen House Democrats boycotted Mr. Modi’s congressional address because of India’s human rights record and, in particular, its treatment of Indian Muslims.

Standing alongside Mr. Modi, Mr. Biden emphasized that press, religious and other fundamental freedoms should be at the core of how both democracies operate. The president said he and Mr. Modi had a “good discussion about democratic values” while meeting in the Oval Office.

When pressed by reporters about his commitment to human rights, the Indian prime minister said, “There’s absolutely no space for discrimination.”

“Democracy is our spirit,” said Mr. Modi, who rarely takes questions from journalists. “Democracy runs in our veins.”

He said through an interpreter that India has “proved that democracies can deliver, and when I say deliver, this is regardless of class, creed, religion, gender.”

He appeared eager to underscore that message later in the day. In his remarks on Capitol Hill, he said India is “home to all faiths in the world, and we celebrate all of them.” He said diversity is a “way of life” in his country.

“Democracy is the idea that welcomes debate and discourse,” he said. “Democracy is the culture that gives wings to thought and aspiration. India is blessed to have such values from times immemorial. In the evolution of the democratic spirit, India is the mother of democracy.”

The prime minister praised the vibrancy, diversity and resilience of U.S. democracy and referred to the growing influence that millions of Americans of Indian descent have on the country’s political landscape.

“The foundation of America was inspired by the vision of a nation of equal people. Throughout your history, you have embraced people from around the world and you have made them equal partners in the American dream,” Mr. Modi said.

“There are millions here who have roots in India. Some of them sit proudly in this chamber, and there is one behind me,” he said, drawing cheers for his reference to Vice President Kamala Harris on the rostrum stage behind him. Ms. Harris’ mother immigrated to the United States from India.

Between Russia and China

Despite the show of unity, the U.S. and India have a nuanced history. Ties were burdened by mutual suspicion during the Cold War era when India built a strong defense partnership with the Soviet Union.

The relationship has shifted more recently as the two democracies toy with deeper alignment to counter China.

Russia remains a major factor in the relationship. Moscow is still New Delhi’s biggest supplier of military hardware, and New Delhi has increased its purchases of cheap Russian oil after the invasion of Ukraine as successive U.S. administrations have sought to wean India off its reliance on Moscow.

Some critics say the U.S. is miscalculating by thinking India can be enlisted in a campaign to contain China.

“New Delhi won’t side with Washington against Beijing,” Ashley Tellis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote recently in Foreign Affairs. He said U.S. officials should more carefully question whether their “generosity toward India will help accomplish [Washington’s] strategic aims.”

The extent to which Mr. Biden pressed Mr. Modi privately on strengthening joint efforts to confront an increasingly aggressive Moscow and Beijing was unclear.

India has not aligned itself with the U.S. and its Western allies in supporting Ukraine as it fends off Russian invaders. New Delhi also has no love for Beijing but has not been fully on board with Washington’s efforts to bottle Chinese expansion.

The state dinner for Mr. Modi was held in a pavilion on the South Lawn of the White House. The menu was vegetarian to accommodate the prime minister’s Hindu diet.