Modi's US visit

Narendra Modi. Dean Lewins / AP 

Modi's US visit 

Analysis: Modi was ported – now the US is rolling out the red carpet 

 

The White House and Joe Biden are taking a calculated risk when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes to visit, writes CNN's Frida Ghitis in an analysis.  

 

Indian democracy has deteriorated, discrimination against Muslims is growing and journalists testify that they are being silenced.  

 

"And yet, India's fragile democracy is far ahead of others in the region," writes Ghitis, who believes that the country is extremely important to the United States.  

 

"Biden will want to bring India closer to the United States and its allies, and away from Russia and its authoritarian friend China, which is also a rival of India." 

 

USA Today's Kim Hjelmgaard notes, like Ghitis, that Modi was deported by the United States after anti-Muslim riots in the state of Gujarat in 2015. Modi was the state's leader at the time, but the Supreme Court cleared him of charges that he and the Hindu nationalist BJP contributed to the deadly violence.  

 

Max Abrahms, a researcher at Northeastern University in Boston, told USA Today that human rights are not, in practice, a big factor for the United States when it comes to finding allies that can offset China's influence.  

 

- Modi has not changed. What has changed is India's perceived strategic value.  

 

Narendra Modi Rajesh Kumar / AP  

 

Modi kicks off US visit with yoga outside UN scrap  

 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead a yoga session for UN dignitaries at the organization's headquarters in New York today, writes TT. 

 

Modi's yoga session is held outdoors at the UN headquarters, where there is also a bust of freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi.  

 

During his three-day visit to the US, Modi will meet the country's President Joe Biden in Washington DC and address Congress. 

 

Modi has visited the US five times since becoming prime minister in 2014, but this is the first time the setting is a formal state visit. It is happening at the same time as concern is growing over a deteriorating situation for human rights in India, writes Reuters.