WASHINGTON: Reflecting liberal Democratic base priorities, a top US lawmaker dealing with foreign relations asked defence secretary Lloyd Austin, currently on his way to New Delhi, to “specifically raise democracy and human rights concerns” in his discussions with the Indian government.
Lloyd was also directed to reaffirm the Biden administration’s opposition to India’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defence system in a strongly-worded letter from US Senator Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who is Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“If India chooses to go forward with its purchase of the S-400, that act will clearly constitute a significant, and therefore sanctionable, transaction with the Russian defence sector under Section 231 of CAATSA. It will also limit India’s ability to work with the US on development and procurement of sensitive military technology. I expect you to make all of these challenges clear in conversations with your Indian counterparts,” Menendez wrote.
The content and tone of the letter confirmed apprehension in some quarters that a Democratic dispensation in Washington would take a harder line on the BJP government’s approach to issues such as human rights, civil liberties, minority affairs, besides taking a tougher approach to New Delhi’s long-standing defence ties with Moscow even though it has reshaped its security approach and developed stronger relations with the United States.
Austin, who is the first Black US defence secretary, is arriving in New Delhi on Friday to advance these ties which have strengthened progressively through Democratic and Republican administrations over the past 25 years. But Menendez pressed him to reflect Democratic Congressional priorities that is guided by constituent pressure.
“I would like to see the US-India partnership grow, but we must acknowledge that the partnership is strongest when based on shared democratic values and the Indian government has been trending away from those values,” Menendez wrote, adding that the Indian government’s “ongoing crackdown on farmers peacefully protesting new farming laws and corresponding intimidation of journalists and government critics only underscores the deteriorating situation of democracy in India.”
Moreover, in recent years, rising anti-Muslim sentiment and related government actions like the Citizenship Amendment Act, the suppression of political dialogue and arrest of political opponents following the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, and the use of sedition laws to persecute political opponents have resulted in the US human rights group Freedom House stripping India of its ‘Free’ status in its yearly global survey, he reminded Austin.
“As the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance states, ‘democracy is essential to meeting the challenges of our time.’ We should seek to partner with India to address challenges from China to climate change, but in doing so we cannot let our democratic values fall away. I urge you to raise the importance of democracy and human rights in your meetings with Indian officials to make clear that respect for democratic values is necessary for strong, sustainable US-India relations,” Menendez wrote.
Regarding India’s planned purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defence system, Menendez said while he recognizes that India is not a US treaty ally and has historical ties with the Soviet and Russian militaries, it was still “a matter of concern.”
If India chooses to go forward with its purchase of the S-400, that act will clearly constitute a significant, and therefore sanctionable, transaction with the Russian defence sector under Section 231 of CAATSA and will also limit India’s ability to work with the US on development and procurement of sensitive military technology, he said, asking Austin to “make all of these challenges clear in conversations with your Indian counterparts.”