US-India ties strained by Biden’s gaffes, criticism, murder plot – but ‘they need each other’

Analysts say there has been “a lot of noise” but the strategic capital Washington places on India as a counterweight to growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region would ensure bilateral relations do not spiral out of control and disagreements are compartmentalised.

Biden’s comments coincided with the release of the US State Department’s annual human rights report and a review by the bipartisan United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, both of which emphasised attacks on minority groups, the implementation of discriminatory nationalist policies, and the stifling of dissent in India.

“There is a lot of noise out there, but it is important not to see all of these different developments as reflections of the relationship under stress,” said Michael Kugelman, director of the Wilson Centre’s South Asia Institute.

He characterised the Washington’s release of the human rights and religious freedom reports as “routine”, but acknowledged that that the allegations of an extrajudicial killing would be primary source of strained ties between Delhi and Washington in the short term.

“I think this is something that would take centre stage in the relationship in the weeks and months ahead,” Kugelman told This Week in Asia, adding that a lot would hinge on the results of India’s investigation.

India’s spy agency was identified in media reports as the instigator of the plot to assassinate the Sikh separatist leader. India’s foreign ministry, however, has dismissed the accusations as “unwarranted and unsubstantiated”.

Delhi expressed its disapproval of the US human rights and religious freedom reports, criticising them as “deeply biased” and having a “poor understanding of India”.

Kugelman said the importance of a