Activists hold Modi responsible for religious riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002, in which more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed. Modi was denied a US visa in 2005 under a US law that bans entry of foreigners who commit “particularly serious violations of religious freedom”.
The June summit was Modi’s first state visit to the US, despite assuming office in 2014. Sitting with Modi at the White House, Biden praised “a relationship built on mutual trust, candor and respect”.
Richard Rossow, an India expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that by the announced timeline of the alleged plot, the Biden administration would have been aware of it well before a series of important high-level commitments.
“Therefore, on its own merits this issue is not sufficient to derail relations, even though it may have generated some underlying level of tension,” he said.
Ashley Tellis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that although the Biden administration “has bent over backwards to avoid a public spat with Delhi,” an attack on an American citizen inside the United States involves sovereignty issues. Will be. Are harassing American officials.
“I think bilateral relations will survive this setback,” he said. “But it will reinforce the doubts of many who believe that claims of shared values between the US and India are mere mythology.”