‘Lecturing India on Human Rights is not going to be productive’: Indian American lawmakers   

Reiterating that they would continue to raise the issue of human rights in India with its leadership, a group of Indian American lawmakers, however, said that lecturing New Delhi on this issue is unlikely to work. The lawmakers rather favour entering a conversation with the Indian leadership on the concerns.  

“India was colonised for over 100 years. So, when we're having a conversation about human rights, and you're having a conversation with (External Affairs Minister S) Jaishankar or someone else, you have to understand that just coming in from a perspective of lecturing India. When they say that we’ve had colonial powers lecture us for hundreds of years is not going to be productive,” Congressman Ro Khanna told members of the Indian American community during the “Desi Decides” Summit of Indian American Impact.  

Khanna, who is also co-chair of the Congressional India Caucus, was joined by three other Indian American lawmakers -- Shri Thanedar, Pramila Jayapal and Dr Ami Bera -- during the panel discussion moderated by Zohreen Shah of ABC Network, who asked them about PM Narendra Modi’s relations with the Muslim community, PTI reported.  

“Having a conversation (with India) saying, here are the imperfections in our democracy, what are the imperfections in your democracy, and how do we collectively advance democracy and human rights, I think is a more constructive approach,” Khanna said.  

Bera agreed with Khanna. “I’ve said the same to the (Indian) foreign minister. If India loses its secular nation, it changes who she is as a country and how the rest of the world views it,” he said.  

He also said that a Trump presidency is not necessarily the same as Prime Minister Modi being in power. “We have a vibrant opposition party in the Democratic Party. We still believe in the freedom of the press and those are all things that I worry about India’s future,” he said.  

“You see what’s happening to the freedom of the press. You’re not seeing a viable opposition party, or it’s being dismantled. A vibrant democracy must have those things, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the ability to push back. I hope you don’t ever see a second Trump presidency. But if that were to happen, you would see our democracy survive the first time, push back, and our democracy will survive. I certainly hope India’s democracy survives,” Bera said.  

Jayapal agreed with both Bera and Khanna and said, "We must be able to critique our own country’s imperfections and any other country’s imperfections."  

"We shouldn’t lecture, I agree with Roe (Khanna). But we do have to think about all the United States’ interests. That is economic, for sure. India is an important partner for us. It’s an important partner because of other regional dynamics as well as global dynamics,” she said. "Just like we criticise the Chinese government for the treatment of Uyghurs or any other country in the world, we must be able to also look at what’s happening in India and call attention to it.”  

The lawmakers agreed that the US should work towards a strong relationship with India. 

“I know that I have been called a bad Indian and all kinds of other things for raising these. But I would just say I’m not backing away from that because those are the values of the US. Those are my values. I don’t think it means that you don’t appreciate or like or want a partnership between India and the US to raise legitimate concerns... Our job is to be moving towards a more perfect union in the US and with all our global partnerships,” Jayapal asserted.  

Thanedar said he favours a strong India-US relationship. “We need a strong US-India relationship. India historically has been playing both sides, Russia and the US. But it’s time for India to commit to a strong friendship with the United States, and that’s something that I want to work on. The US must recognise India’s power, its economic power, and India remains the best solution to counteract China’s aggression. So, I’m just working on a strong India-US relationship,” he said.