Washington, DC – High lawmakers in the USA have invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to handle Congress when he visits Washington, DC later this month – a uncommon alternative granted solely to the nation’s closest allies.
Democratic and Republican leaders within the Senate and Home of Representatives introduced the invitation in a letter to Modi on Friday, saying that the speech on June 22 would rejoice the “enduring friendship” between the 2 nations.
“Primarily based on our shared values and dedication to world peace and prosperity, the partnership between our two nations continues to develop,” the letter said.
“Throughout your deal with, you should have the chance to share your imaginative and prescient for India’s future and converse to the worldwide challenges our nations each face.”
This would be the second time Modi addresses a joint session of Congress, after he delivered a speech to US lawmakers in 2016.
It’s my honor to ask @PMOIndia@narendramodi to handle a Joint Assembly of Congress on Thursday, June twenty second.
This will likely be a chance to rejoice the enduring friendship between the USA and India and converse to the worldwide challenges our nations each face. pic.twitter.com/gu68UjJltG
— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) June 2, 2023
Modi’s go to to the US comes amid intensifying competitors between Washington and Beijing, and as India – now the most important nation on the planet by inhabitants – has turn into a significant geopolitical and financial energy.
US officers usually reward New Delhi as an necessary ally within the Asia-Pacific area, the place Beijing’s insurance policies – together with claims to the South China Sea – have more and more drawn criticism from Washington.
The White Home introduced Modi’s journey final month, saying that President Joe Biden will host him to “affirm the deep and shut partnership” between the 2 nations.
“The go to will strengthen our two nations’ shared dedication to a free, open, affluent, and safe Indo-Pacific and our shared resolve to raise our strategic expertise partnership, together with in protection, clear power, and area,” it mentioned in an announcement on Could 10.
The Biden administration has deepened ties with India in recent times; It strengthened the so-called Quad alliance, which additionally contains Australia and Japan, and created a proper partnership with the South Asian nation, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, dubbed I2U2.
However Modi’s critics within the US have known as on Washington to do extra to confront his nationalist insurance policies, which they’ve mentioned hurt minorities in India, significantly Muslims.
A Division of State report on spiritual freedom final month famous allegations of “violence by regulation enforcement authorities towards members of spiritual minorities in a number of states”, together with the flogging of Muslim males and demolitions of Muslim-owned houses and retailers in India.
“We’ll proceed to talk immediately with our colleagues and counterparts in India relating to these issues,” a senior US official instructed reporters on situation of anonymity earlier than the discharge of the report.
“We’re persevering with to encourage the federal government to sentence violence and maintain accountable … all teams who interact in rhetoric that’s dehumanising in direction of spiritual minorities and all teams who interact in violence towards spiritual communities.”
India has rejected US accusations of spiritual freedom violations.
The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy group, final month voiced disappointment over the requires Modi to handle Congress.
“To fail to notice Modi’s violent, anti-minority, authoritarian tendencies, and his corrupt mismanagement of the Indian economic system, will not be solely to disregard the US authorities’s personal findings however a strategic blunder with the potential to jeopardize world stability,” the group mentioned in an announcement.
Modi additionally has confronted criticism over accusations of a crackdown on home political opponents.
Earlier this yr, opposition determine Rahul Gandhi was expelled from the nation’s parliament after he was convicted of defamation in Modi’s residence state of Gujarat in relation to a 2019 marketing campaign path comment seen as an insult to the prime minister.
Read the full article here
