Biden is ready to fete India’s leader, looking past Modi’s human rights record and ties to Russia

By AAMER MADHANI and KRUTIKA PATHI
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is honoring Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a state visit this week. Biden is extending the high honor even though Modi’s government has stayed on the sidelines in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and as human rights activists express alarm about the state of India’s democracy. The Biden administration sees its ties to India as a defining relationship, one that will be essential to confronting challenges as varied as climate change, artificial intelligence and China’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. Modi’s four-day U.S. visit begins Tuesday and includes a stop in New York for meetings with business and thought leaders and a yoga event at the United Nations.