Laurels for Modi Govt as US hails India's democracy ::::: Who gets the egg on the face ?

 The big question is who gets the egg on the face? The small answer is best left for the people of India to understand. But what is still important is that Sickularism still remains unrepentant !!

Kirby 

“India is a vibrant democracy. Anybody that, you know, happens to go to New Delhi can see that for themselves," tersely remarked John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House. 

"And certainly, I would expect that strength and health of democratic institutions will be part of the discussion (during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US later this month,” John Kirby told a news conference in Washington.  

Kirby said India is a strong partner with the United States on many levels.

“Look, we never shy away. And you can do that with friends. You’re supposed to do that with friends. You never shy away from expressing concerns that we might have with anyone around the world. But this (State) visit is really about advancing what is now and what we hope will be a deeper, stronger partnership and friendship going forward,” Kirby said in response to a question.

“You saw that in Shangri-La Secretary (of Defense, Lloyd) Austin announced some additional defense cooperation now that we’re going to pursue with India. Of course, there’s an awful lot of economic trade between our two countries. India is a member of the Pacific Quad and a key friend and partner with respect to Indo-Pacific security,” he said.

“I could go on and on and on. There are innumerable reasons why India certainly  matters, not just bilaterally between the two of our nations, but multilaterally on very many levels," he said. "And the president (Joe Biden) is looking forward very much to having Prime Minister Modi here to talk about all those issues and to advance and deepen that partnership and that friendship,” Kirby maintained. 

Notably, from Indian domestic politics point of view, the latest US official statement hailing India's democracy under PM Modi have a special significance as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his visit to that country tried to make unreasonable and unjustified remarks against India. 

In fact, Rahul's repeated anti-India and anti-Modi utterances have triggered political rows in India. 

Interestingly yet again, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar has declined to comment on the same stating he does not want to raise domestic political issues during overseas trip. Dr Jaishankar gave a virtual mild cautioning when he said he could be joining the debate on his return to India. During his latest trip, Rahul Gandhi has even called Modi a 'specimen'.