US 'deep state' still exists in the form of US panel on Religious Freedom

The US 'deep state' still exists in the form of The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The panel has umpteen times slammed the Modi government and sought to embarrass the Indian Government. 

They did it again. The panel said on Tuesday that the treatment of minorities in India is deteriorating.

It also recommended sanctions be imposed on India's external spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) over its alleged involvement in plots to assassinate Sikh separatists.

  

New Delhi has rejected the allegations time and again. The Ministry of External Affairs has done it again too. But the American 'fallacy' has stood exposed in the past too. 

In  2019 at a press conference in Delhi, the then Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said --

“The most remarkable democratic election in the world, in many ways, is here in India ...... Americans admire Indians’ commitment to rights, democracy and pluralism. Indian democracy is powered by its free-thinking citizens. I approach this with humility." 

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders then did not waste time and soon said that  the much-planned propaganda against the Prime Minister has fallen flat.

In September 2019, Donald Trump as the US President had said: "Like a father would bring it together. Maybe he [Modi] is the father of India. We will call him the father of India." 

Prior to becoming US vice president, Kamala Harris lashed out at the Indian government in 2019, declaring: "Kashmiris are not alone. We are all watching. So often, when we see human rights abuses, the abuser will convince those that they abuse that nobody cares and that nobody's watching."

But once in power, the strategic situation seems to have brought some changes on the ground. So, when it comes to candid talks about human rights and media freedom in India, especially under self-declared Hindutva champion Narendra Modi, the differences between the Biden administration and the Trump administration seem to have done a vanishing act, almost. 

Modi himself later talked about the shared democratic values of the two countries. "I welcome President Biden's strong commitment to strengthening the India-US Strategic Partnership, which is anchored in our shared democratic values and is a force for global good," Modi tweeted after his meeting with Blinken.

BJP spokesman Gaurav Bhatia says it was a letdown for the lobby that was banking on foreign powers and top diplomatic executives to show India in a poor light. 

Blinken's visit and talks with Indian Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar actually chalked out a roadmap for a new approach to Afghanistan and to boost bilateral ties.

Congress leader Sanjay Jha obviously feels the visiting US dignitary did not do himself justice. "America is self-focused because if it looks at a big consumer market or labor market, it’s very unlikely to ignore it as its business, military-industrial complex is huge."

Nationalist Congress Party leader Majeed Memon also said he felt "let down" by Blinken's statement. 

A C Michael, rights activist and former member of Delhi Minorities Commission, said Blinken’s response shows an Indian reality.

Blinken’s reaction “tells me that not just we citizens of India fear in making comments against present dispensation, in fact even the foreign dignitaries fear to speak the truth.”

“I will not be exaggerating If claim that our country is no longer the largest democracy in the world in a real sense,” Michael said.

A section of neutral political observers had presumed that Blinken would be doing some plain speaking at a time when the Indian government is in constant confrontation with Twitter. 

Moreover, the government does not have good relations with the Indian media as the phones of a number of journalists and opposition leaders have allegedly been spied on using Pegasus software — an allegation the government has strongly denied. But the ongoing monsoon session of parliament is paralyzed by the Pegasus row.

There was another reason that raised hopes that Blinken would be talking candidly. Only the other day, Assistant Secretary of State Dean Thompson said: “With respect to the human rights and democracy question, yes, you’re right; I will tell you that we will raise it [during Blinken's meeting with his Indian counterpart] and we will continue that conversation."