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Prime Minister Narendra Modi emplanes for two-nation state visit to Poland and Ukraine, in New Delhi on Wednesday.
India’s Modi makes first-ever visit to Kyiv
India’s balancing act. New Delhi has long-standing economic and military ties to Moscow and has called for diplomacy but refused to condemn the invasion. India continues to buy Russian oil at a discount.
But India is also an important ally of the United States, owing to their shared concerns about China. Modi’s visit to Kyiv is meant in part to ease concerns in Washington while also showing Russia that he has his own prerogatives. Putin will not love the fact that Modi is in Kyiv while Ukraine still occupies Russian territory and is swarming Moscow with drones.
Could India make progress towards peace? It’s a long shot. The US, and especially China, are better equipped to offer the necessary economic and security guarantees. Still, India will play an important supporting role in any settlement. Modi’s trip is at least partly about exploring what that might be.The resident doctors hold placards while chanting slogans during a protest against the brutal rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor from Kolkata's RG Kar Hospital. The doctors' strike continues in the national capital, making a week since the indefinite protest began over the rape and murder of a medical student in Kolkata, causing disruptions to services and affecting patients.
India’s doctors continue strike over Kolkata killing
Indian junior doctors extended their strike on Sunday, prompting thousands more to march in solidarity followingthe horrific rape and murder of a 31-year-old postgraduate medical student in Kolkata. The tragedy has captured national and international attention, with protesters demanding the government do more to tackle the longstanding crisis of rape and sexual abuse of women and girls.
The victim’s bloodied body was discovered on Aug. 9 at the state-run G. Kar Medical College hospital in Kolkata, in a seminar hall where she was resting after a 36-hour shift. One hospital worker has been detained, but the victim’s parents suspect their daughter was gang-raped.
The crime has ignited protests across India, where an average ofnearly 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022. Women’s rights activists say women remain unsafe despite tougher laws enacted after an infamous gang-rape case in a Delhi bus in 2012. The Indian Medical Association has called for enhanced security protocols for hospital staff.
At recent independence day commemorations,Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “Crimes against women should be probed swiftly, and stringent punishment should be given to those who commit demonic acts.” Modi and Indian authorities have been criticized, however, for ignoring a spate of recent gang rapes in Manipur until video evidence of the crimes emerged.
We’ll see whether this latest incident pushes Modi’s government to act more swiftly – and where the investigation goes from here.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) extends his hand for a handshake with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau in New Delhi, India, February 23, 2018.
Are Indian agents still at it?
Canadian authorities have warned businessman Hardeep Malik that his life may be in danger, and they are investigating whether India is seeking to kill political enemies in Canada, according to a new CBC report. The news poses a fresh challenge to the government of Justin Trudeau and potentially an irritant to US-Indian relations.
The CBC learned that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police issued the formal warning last week to Malik. He is the son of Ripudaman Singh Malik, who was murdered in 2022, years after being acquitted of murder and conspiracy in the 1985 terrorist bombing of Air India Flight 182, which killed 329 people.
Canada’s failure to prevent the bombing of that flight, or to convict those responsible, has put an enduring strain on relations between Canada and India. Malik had appeared to have reconciled with Narendra Modi’s government before his murder, but the RCMP is investigating whether India may have ordered his killing.
Last fall, Trudeau accused India’s government of being behind the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who, like Malik, was an advocate for an independent Sikh state in India. India angrily denied the accusation, but legal documents eventually made it clear that American authorities had reason to believe the Indian government was behind assassination plots in Canada and the United States.
Joe Biden, who sees Modi’s government as a crucial ally in Asia, is thought to have pressured the Indians to stop killing people in Canada and the United States, but it is not clear that India was chastened. At a recent election rally, Modi boasted about extraterritorial murders. “Today, even India’s enemies know: This is Modi, this is the New India. This New India comes into your home to kill you.”
The last thing Biden needs is another crisis to manage, so it may be up to police in Canada and the United States to put a stop to India’s bumbling assassins.
FILE PHOTO: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (2nd L) and his former Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe (L) bow to national flags as they review an honor guard before their meeting at Abe's official residence in Tokyo, Japan November 11, 2016.
India’s rise makes Japan anxious
India is set to surpass Japan as the world's fourth-largest economy by 2025, earlier than previous forecasts. This marks Japan’s second year of decline in global GDP rankings, after falling from third to fourth place behind Germany in 2023.
According to the International Monetary Fund, India’s nominal GDP will top $4.34 trillion next year, slightly above Japan’s projected $4.31 trillion. The subcontinent’s GDP already overtook that of the United Kingdom in 2022 and grew by 7.8% in 2023.
India's economic ascent has been powered by strong domestic demand, as its population surpassed that of China last year. It experienceddouble-digit growth in its steel, cement, and automobile manufacturing sectors. India now uses its Rupee rather than the dollar for trading with 27 countries, and its 134 billion online transactions account for46% of all global digital payments.
In contrast, Japan's GDP growth lagged at 1.9% in 2023 after decades of stagnation, and the OECD projects an anemic 0.5% increase in 2024. Japan’s woes are exacerbated by its aging population, low productivity, and a stubbornly weak yen.
None of this is good news for the government of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, amid a swirling party finance scandal and abysmal approval ratings. He’ll need to survive a leadership election in the fall for his Liberal Democratic Party, which will be looking for a leader to take them into national elections next year. With headlines like these, Kishida is expected to face defeat.Activists from the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) are staging a protest after the central government notified the rules for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, in Nagaon District, Assam, India, on March 11, 2024.
India enacts fraught new citizenship law ahead of election
The Indian government implemented a new citizenship law on Monday after over four years of delay that critics say may be used to discriminate against the country’s large Muslim minority.
What’s the new law? The amendment extends Indian citizenship to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Christians who moved to India from Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Bangladesh before Dec. 31, 2014.
Supporters say the law is meant to help members of those faiths escape persecution in their countries of origin, but critics worry it is one step of a two-part plan. In combination with a proposed national register of citizens, they say this law could be used to render Muslims stateless. When the law was first passed in 2019, it triggered months of protests and riots that left dozens dead and hundreds injured, which is why the government waited years to implement it.
Why now? Prime Minister Narendra Modi has never looked stronger, and he’s aiming to fire up Hindu nationalist sentiment ahead of elections this spring. Modi is expected to win comfortably, but he’s aiming to run up his party’s vote count as high as possible and solidify its long-term prospects.
To that end, earlier this year he opened a controversial Hindu temple on the grounds of a former mosque in a massive symbolic victory, which had been the site of violent confrontation for over a century. And to woo less spiritually motivated voters, Modi announced he was spending $15 billion on infrastructure in the south and east, where he hopes to make inroads into opposition strongholds.India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the inauguration of the BAPS Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, February 14, 2024.
India cracks down on anonymous donations before elections
The Supreme Court in India, the country with the most expensive elections in the world, has outlawed anonymous political donations ahead of national elections this spring.
The ruling, which dropped on Thursday, strikes down the electoral bond scheme concocted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. It allowed individuals and companies to send unlimited donations to political parties without the need to disclose their identity.
The ruling was praised by every political party besides the BJP, which received 85% of all donations and 90% of corporate donations in 2023.
Many criticize the decision as coming too late. The BJP has already amassed an extraordinary stockpile of anonymous donations – and it’s expected to maintain its majority because of its deep pockets and Modi’s strong approval ratings.
But the ruling brings political corruption to the forefront of the conversation in a country where voter bribery is common, and it could make future elections more fair and transparent.
Lakshadweep, Jan 4 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi tries snorkelling on one of the pristine beaches, in Lakshadweep on Thursday. (ANI Photo)No Use India.
Modi and the Maldives “beach off”
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new job is beach, and the Maldives aren’t having it.
In an attempt to boost tourism to Indian beaches, Modi posted some snaps of himself enjoying a vacation on Lakshadweep, an island chain in the Indian Ocean. Seventy nautical miles to the South, the Maldives – where Indian tourists comprise up to 11% of tourism revenue – took great offense, calling Modi ” a “terrorist” and a “puppet of Israel.”
A #boycottmaldives campaign flared up in response, with Modi’s cult following posting screenshots of their canceled trips to the island nation. Meanwhile, government officials, Bollywood stars, and cricketers have urged Indians to join Modi for a snorkel (with a life jacket on, of course) in Lakshadweep.
The Barbie-worthy “beach off” comes at a contentious time. The two nations are strategic allies, but their relationship is strained by the new pro-China Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu tilting the country away from New Delhi and toward Beijing.Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi
Memo shows Modi government planned ‘crackdown’
The memo, which India says is not real, did not direct consular officials to carry out assassinations, but it does show the government of Narendra Modi was urging “concrete measures” be taken by officials “to hold the suspects accountable.” It also includes a list of Sikh dissidents under investigation – and Canadian activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar is on it.
He was gunned down outside his gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship, in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18.
The memo instructs officials at its consulates to cooperate with Indian intelligence agencies to act against Sikh activists. A US indictment unsealed last month linked murder plots in both Canada and the United States to an unnamed Indian government official.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September that Canadian intelligence officials suspected India was behind Nijjar’s murder, prompting furious denials from Modi’s government. On Tuesday, Trudeau said that he decided to publicly reveal Canada’s suspicions “to put a chill” on relations between the two countries after India failed to cooperate. Canada "needed a further level of deterrence, perhaps of saying publicly and loudly that we know, or we have credible reasons to believe, that the Indian government was behind this,” he explained.
In response to Trudeau’s September allegation, India angrily expelled 41 Canadian diplomats, but after the Americans unsealed the indictment linking India to the murder plots, India announced it would investigate the matter. FBI director Christopher Wray is in India this week to try to take “a step towards deepening cooperation.”
The Americans are said to be hoping that India will renounce the practice of carrying out assassinations in friendly countries.