Cardin rejected the contention that talking about religious freedom has cast a shadow ahead of Modi’s trip, asserting that “in raising these issues we [the US] are helping him in dealing with the issue in the domestic environment” and that this was “in context to a relationship that is only getting stronger between two democracies”.
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Modi will be in the US for two days from June 7 during which he will address a joint meeting of the US Congress and hold talks with President Barack Obama to review the progress made in key areas of defence, security and energy.
Cardin’s speech followed a contentious hearing last week on Capitol Hill, when Cardin, Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) and other senators pressed a State Department official on India’s human rights issues, including human trafficking, its crackdown on non-government organizations receiving foreign funding such as Greenpeace and the Ford Foundation, rising intolerance, and the recent decision to bar investigators from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom from traveling to India.
Cardin alleged that there were extra-judicial killings in different parts of India which can not be allowed to continue.
In his speech on the role of good governance in global relations, Cardin asserted that there were multiple concerns in India, ranging from extra-judicial killing, curtailment of religious freedom, anti-conversion laws and violence against women. Referring to a United Nations report, he said India has been named in the tier 2 list of countries in human trafficking and the issue was “troublesome”.
“I will have an opportunity to host a reception for the Prime Minister and I certainly will be including the human rights dimension in our conversation”, said Cardin.
Commenting on PM Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to the US, American Senator, said that the relationship between India and US is “not about one person”.
Cardin said the USA is looking forward to Modi’s visit to his country. “I will be hosting a dinner for the prime minister”, he said.
Given the fact that the US State Department Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal was grilled by the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on these issues has raised diplomatic eyebrows here. Democratic countries, he said, had a heavier burden. “The Modi administration has been speaking out against corruption”.
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“This was the senator’s first visit to India”.
