My TakeIndia, United States in marriage of convenience over China policy

More than two decades have passed since the United States first imposed a visa ban on Narendra Modi. As then state minister during the 2002 Gujarat riots, he was accused of condoning the massacre of Muslims. The official death toll puts the number at above 1,000, though some human rights groups claim it was much higher.

How times have changed. This week, Washington rolled out the thickest red carpet, organised the glitziest state dinner and listened intently as the Indian prime minister addressed, not for the first time, a joint session of the US Congress – with 15 standing ovations and 79 applauses.

What gives? Modi hasn’t changed. But China-US relations have changed profoundly since then. And so, India nowadays can do no wrong while Washington desperately needs it on its side with its Indo-Pacific strategy.

It’s almost a cliche that Americans are supposed to be principled idealists while Chinese communists are ruthless realists. But when it comes to India, that characterisation has been reversed.

The Joe Biden White House, which has made much about the epochal fight between democracies and autocracies, proves perfectly capable of jettisoning democratic principles when it comes to dealing with Modi’s India, and many others, so long as they have a role pre-assigned by Washington against China.

Since Modi took office in 2014, he has promoted Hindutva, or extreme Hindu nationalism, which is not just an ideology but practically a state religion. His government has suspended any facade of autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, the Muslim-majority province. But you won’t hear much complaint about that from Washington; nor about India over the war in Ukraine even though both India and China have refused to condemn the Russian invasion. Instead you only hear the loudest public condemnation directed at Beijing.

India is the classic “swing state”, ever ready to jump into bed with whoever it finds most advantageous at any moment.