A group of six progressive House Democrats on Thursday boycotted India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Congress, protesting his human rights record, especially toward Muslims in India.
The boycott was initiated by the “Squad,” Representatives Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Cori Bush of Missouri, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, and Jamaal Bowman of New York, who called on their fellow lawmakers to “stand in solidarity with the communities that have been harmed by Modi and his policies.”
But the vast majority of Congress Members, including many who are on the record as condemning Modi’s human rights policies, would not imagine boycotting the speech, which was endorsed by the Biden White House. As Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat whose parents came to the US from India and who is a critic of Modi, told the NY Times: “We need to engage,” since India’s leaders are “not going to be open and receptive to something that comes off as the West lecturing. I think they’d be much more open to dialogue as equals about the project of multiracial democracy.”
Look at that, we’re not the only ones who say the Squad members are political colonialists…
Atif Rasheed, the former Vice Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, which was set up by the Indian government to care for Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians, and is a member of the Muslim advocacy group Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz, declared on Thursday: “Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib spitting poison by not attending PM Modi’s US Congress address.”
Rep. Omar declared: “Prime Minister Modi’s government has repressed religious minorities, emboldened violent Hindu nationalist groups, and targeted journalists/human rights advocates with impunity. I will NOT be attending Modi’s speech. I WILL be holding a briefing with human rights groups to discuss Modi’s record of repression and violence.”
Tlaib tweeted: “It’s shameful that Modi has been given a platform at our nation’s capital—his long history of human rights abuses, anti-democratic actions, targeting Muslims & religious minorities, and censoring journalists is unacceptable. I will be boycotting Modi’s joint address to Congress.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) organized a letter to President Biden, signed by 75 Democratic lawmakers, asking the president to bring up human rights, freedom of the press, and religious intolerance with his guest, PM Modi.
“We do not endorse any particular Indian leader or political party – that is the decision of the people of India – but we do stand in support of the important principles that should be a core part of American foreign policy,” they wrote Biden.
By the way, Rashida Tlaib took time from her busy boycotting schedule to spread another lie against Israel. She tweeted: “Omar was only 25 years old, father of two. He just celebrated his son’s birthday. His family in the U.S. are devastated. He was trying to help protect families in his home village of Turmusaya when an Israeli extremist (backed by the Israeli govt) fatally shot him in the back.”
Except that Omar was killed well after the settlers had left his village – by a PA police officer.
According to numerous Indian sources, Narendra Modi has enjoyed consistently high approval ratings since his election in 2014. He is ranked in public opinion polls as the greatest prime minister in Indian history.
But according to a May 2020 report by Law & Ethics of Human Rights titled, “Killing a Constitution with a Thousand Cuts: Executive Aggrandizement and Party-state Fusion in India,” “The Modi government “incrementally but systemically attacked nearly all existing mechanisms that are in place to hold the political executive to account, either by ensuring that these mechanisms became subservient to the political executive or were captured by party loyalists.”
And a January 2021 V-Dem Institute report titled, “Democratic Backsliding in India, the World’s Largest Democracy,” suggested “The Modi government has used state power to intimidate and stifle critics in the media and academia, undermining freedom of expression and alternative sources of information.”
