WASHINGTON: In an otherwise congenial diplomatic engagement between top US and Indian officials, the Biden administration on Monday struck a mildly disapproving and discordant note by unilaterally raising what it said is a rise in human rights abuses in India.
“We are monitoring some recent concerning developments in India, including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police, and prison officials,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the media following the 2+2 dialogue with the foreign and defense principals of India, prefacing the remark by noting both sides share a commitment to democratic values such as protecting human rights and regularly engage on these shared values.
The Indian side ignored the comment, choosing not to lecture a country whose Democratic administrations acknowledge its own problems with racism, human rights, and the world’s largest incarcerated population.
Although Democrats in the US open to criticism and agrees America is hardly perfect in this regard, Indian interlocutors find the US posturing tedious given its own domestic problems and the wide berth it offers to many other offending countries. While some privately acknowledge imperfections in India, they also argue that India remains an open society with many self-correcting redressal mechanisms.
In part, the human rights issues are mainly a Democratic Party concern arising from pressure from its so-called progressive
