WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) - Rights advocates in Washington demanded that President Joe Biden publicly call out what they described as India's deteriorating human rights record, saying the U.S. approach of raising the issue in private with Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a failure.
In a press briefing on Wednesday, activists and academics also called for hearings in the U.S. Congress about human rights in India under the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Modi, who is on a four-day visit to the United States.
Critics of the Modi government's human rights record have cited less press freedom, restrictions on minority religious rights and other forms of discrimination and backsliding on democratic rights.
The White House may bring up human rights concerns but it said that Biden will not "lecture" Modi on the issue.
Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Heather Timmons and Grant McCoolOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons:
Joe Biden, Narendra Modi, Modi, Nadine Maenza, Biden, Zaki Barzinji, Barack Obama, Angana Chatterji, Ilhan Omar, Rashida, Bernie Sanders, Critics, Kanishka Singh, Heather Timmons, Grant McCool
Organizations:
Rights, U.S, Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, ., Wilson Center, International, Critics, White, University of California, U.S . Congress, World Press, 161st, Thomson
Locations:
Washington, U.S, India, United States, Berkeley, Karnataka