Global Courant
UNITED NATIONS — There will be plenty of time to discuss global tensions during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US this week. But he starts his day on Wednesday by emphasizing the pursuit of inner peace.
After arriving in New York on Tuesday afternoon and holding private meetings, the leader of the world’s most populous nation will begin his public program on Wednesday with a group yoga session on the United Nations’ north lawn.
The President of the UN General Assembly Csaba Kőrösi, Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed and many other diplomats and UN officials are expected to attend the event. It honors the International Day of Yoga, which Modi persuaded the UN to designate as an annual observance in 2014.
The yoga-themed UN visit is a smart and symbolic choice for a prime minister who has made the age-old discipline both a personal practice and a diplomatic tool. First practiced by Hindu sages, yoga has now become one of India’s most popular cultural exports, and Modi has been vigorously promoting it as a – rather literal – feel-good way to expand the country’s influence abroad.
Modi, a Hindu nationalist, presents himself as an ascetic who adheres to his religion’s restrictions on vegetarianism and yoga. He’s posted videos to social media over the years of himself practicing yoga poses (not to mention live footage of him meditating in a Himalayan mountain cave after the 2019 national election).
Modi last visited the UN during the 2021 General Assembly, where he said “all sorts of questions have been raised about the UN” and its effectiveness on issues ranging from climate change to the coronavirus pandemic to terrorism.
He also made a point of plotting his country’s place in the international community, noting that “every sixth person in the world is Indian”. In the years following his speech, India surpassed China at 1.425 billion for the world’s largest population.
India has long sought a permanent seat on the Security Council, the UN’s most powerful body. India has been elected to a two-year seat several times, most recently for 2021-22.
Modi will head to Washington later Wednesday for a three-day visit that will include an Oval Office meeting with President Joe Biden, a speech to a joint session of Congress, a state dinner at the White House and more. Among the plans: a State Department lunch hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris, whose mother was born in India, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The visit comes as both countries are interested in strengthening ties.
The US has looked to India, also the world’s largest democracy, as a key partner in things like checking China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region. India, meanwhile, wants to strengthen military and trade ties with the US
However, human rights advocates are urging Biden to put pressure on Modi on human rights issues, both internationally and within India. Modi has drawn criticism for legislation that speeds up citizenship for some migrants but excludes Muslims; an increase in violence against Muslims and other religious minorities by Hindu nationalists; and the recent conviction of India’s top opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi, for mocking Modi’s surname. (Ghandi himself recently visited the US, speaking with private organizations and university students.)
The Indian government defends its human rights record and insists that the country’s democratic principles remain rock solid.
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Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report.
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