Questions of HR violations, media curbs greet Modi on visit to US

ISLAMABAD: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was banned from a US visa for a decade on account of his role in the Gujarat killings, is on a visit to the United States for the fifth time in nine years since the ban was lifted after his becoming prime minister of his country.

Modi has arrived in New York for the start of his three-day state visit to the United States that will culminate in Washington. He has been to the US five times in the past nine years, but this is the first trip to be accorded full diplomatic protocol of a state visit. He is meeting Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam among several US CEOs who will be attending the White House state dinner today (Thursday). A separate meeting of Modi with tech leaders is also being planned where technology transfer and finding ways to diversify away from China will be discussed.

The US media has given extensive coverage to the engagements of the Indian leader. Modi is fully exploiting tension between China and the United States for his country’s sake. The Indian prime minister is being profusely greeted by the Indian diaspora and business/ corporate sector of the lone world superpower with open arms. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk says the firm is looking to invest in India and bring the electric carmaker to the country “as soon as humanly possible.” 

Musk said he had a “very good” conversation with Modi on Tuesday and is hopeful that they will be able to “announce something in the not-too-distant future.” The dialogue comes at a time when Tesla and New Delhi have revived talks about incentives to bring the carmaker to the South Asian market. SpaceX representatives have also revived conversations with the telecom ministry in India in recent weeks for setting up satellite internet service Starlink in that country.

As China’s economy falters, top US corporate executives are making it a priority to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his state visit to the White House, including Thursday’s dinner. The state dinner is a first for India and is viewed by New Delhi as a coup. “The opportunity is huge. The administration is going all out to give the prime minister a close-to-royal welcome,” Frank Wisner, former US ambassador to India, told CNBC.

Other companies with a big footprint in India will also send their CEOs, including Marriott’s Tony Capuano and Cummins’ Jennifer Rumsey, according to multiple sources. The biggest deal to be announced will be General Electric co-producing military jet engines in India alongside Hindustan Aeronautics.

“Strengthening of US-India defence and security ties will likely be a major outcome for the trip, especially around issues of critical technology sharing and defence equipment IP,” said Safiya Ghori-Ahmad of the Atlantic Council who previously worked on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to CNBC.

Separately, CNBC has learned General Atomics is nearing a deal to sell new drones to New Delhi at a time when the country is trying to beef up its security.

China is one of the agenda items when Modi meets with Biden and US executives Thursday and Friday. “Both the US and India share a common interest in managing the rise of Chinese power,” said Wisner. But seventy-five US Democratic lawmakers have urged President Joe Biden to raise “areas of concern” on democratic backsliding with Modi during his state visit.

The letter, sent to the White House on Tuesday, was signed by 75 Democratic members of Congress, including 18 senators and 57 members of the House of Representatives. The signatories include Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both of whom were candidates for the Democratic party’s presidential primary election.

“In order to advance these values with credibility on the world stage, we must apply them equally to friend and foe alike, just as we work to apply these same principles here in the United States,” said the letter.

It said that there have been “independent, credible reports” that reflect “troubling signs in India toward the shrinking of political space, the rise of religious intolerance, the targeting of civil society organisations and journalists, and growing restrictions on press freedoms and internet access”. It cited the State Department’s annual reports on human rights and religious freedom, as well as international lists that monitor freedom of the press and internet shutdowns.

During the visit, several rights groups have planned protests, even as Modi supporters are also lining up to greet him during his travels.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the Indian PM was asked a question on the concerns about the draconian use of law to clamp down on political opponents, minorities and civil society members. The newspaper reported that Modi refused to comment.