When the US state division just lately instructed a court docket that the Saudi Arabian crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, should have immunity in a lawsuit over the homicide of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, it portrayed its argument as a authorized and never ethical place. By manner of proof, it pointed to a rogues’ gallery of overseas leaders beforehand afforded related safety. Nestling between Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, who, it was claimed, assassinated political rivals, and Congo’s Joseph Kabila, whose safety element was accused of assaulting protesters in Washington, was India’s Narendra Modi.

Dropping Mr Modi into such an inventory was no accident. It is a reminder that whereas New Delhi basks in its diplomatic success at latest G20 and Cop27 summits, it would discover the worldwide setting much less accommodating if Mr Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata celebration (BJP) proceed to fire up hatred to win elections. Washington’s gesture means that its strategic partnership with India can’t be fully insulated from home political points. Mr Modi’s failure, as chief minister of Gujarat, to stop anti-Muslim riots in 2002 that left a whole lot lifeless noticed him denied a US visa, till he grew to become Indian prime minister. The message from Foggy Bottom was that the ban had not been withdrawn, however suspended, as a result of Mr Modi ran a rustic that Washington wished to do enterprise with.

India is taken into account a geopolitical counterweight to China and, in some ways, an indispensable actor on the world stage. But Mr Biden’s staff seems to see the place as extra contingent, and will likely be much less tolerant than the Trump administration of Mr Modi’s makes an attempt to remould Indian democracy in order that Hindus grow to be constitutionally pre-eminent, with minorities decreased to second-class residents. Last week, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom accused New Delhi of a “crackdown on civil society and dissent”, and “religious freedom violations”. The Indian overseas ministry hit again at “biased and inaccurate observations”. Officials would do higher to replicate on the place their nation goes.

While a rising energy, India’s ascent depends upon constructing bridges with others. The Middle East is a key power provider and regional commerce associate that helps 9 million Indian employees. India’s safety depends upon Arab states sustaining a hostile setting for terrorism. So when BJP functionaries made derogatory remarks concerning the prophet Muhammad this summer season, Gulf states lodged formal protests with New Delhi. Chastened, the Modi authorities was spurred into action – suspending one celebration official and expelling one other, in addition to saying it accords “the highest respect to all religions”.

Bland assurances is probably not sufficient. The intimidation of India’s 200 million Muslims is hiding in plain sight. State elections in Gujarat start on Thursday, weeks after BJP ministers approved the untimely launch of 11 males convicted of rape and homicide of Muslim ladies and kids in the course of the riots. On the marketing campaign path final Friday, India’s dwelling minister claimed troublemakers had been “taught a lesson” in 2002. This seemed like a sign to Hindu mobs that they might do as they happy.

Worryingly, there are indicators that the communal clashes seen in India are being copied elsewhere. In Leicester, many south Asian Muslims – like town’s Hindus – have Indian roots. Yet when violence erupted between these communities this September, escalating into assaults on mosques and temples, the Indian excessive fee in London condemned the “violence perpetrated against the Indian community in Leicester and vandalisation of premises and symbols of [the] Hindu religion”. Pointedly, there was no condemnation of Hindus’ violence towards Muslims. Once cautious to proclaim its secularism, India’s authorities seems content material to export its Hindu chauvinism. That ought to hassle everybody.