How Indian Americans Should Treat Modi’s Upcoming New York Rally

On Sept. 22, India’s controversial Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to address more than 10,000 Indian Americans in New York City. While Modi no doubt intends this visit to be a victory lap—akin to his 2019 Texas “Howdy Modi” event, hosted jointly with Donald Trump—it ought to be the opposite.

The Modi government’s virulent Hindu nationalist agenda, which enables violence against religious minorities, cost the Prime Minister in the recent election. With support for his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party greatly diminished and India’s opposition enjoying a higher share of voter support than in years prior, Modi must govern in coalition for the first time. For India, the U.S., and the increasingly intertwined relationship between our two countries, this new check on Modi’s power is a great thing.

Read More: Modi’s Unraveling Has Begun

There has never been a moral case for U.S. support for Modi’s policies from afar, and now there is less of a strategic one. After all, Modi’s coded reference to Muslims as “infiltrators” during the last campaign cycle contributed to a broader wave of political hate-speech and violence in 2024. Modi still has yet to face any real accountability for enabling an anti-Muslim pogrom in 2002.

U.S. officials and everyday Americans alike need to recognize that this is a leader whose days are numbered, and speak out against his authoritarian drift while the global media spotlight falls on him during his latest American tour.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams, New York City Council members Shekar Krishnan and Shahana Hanif, and New York State Representative Zohran Mamdani have all taken a vital first step, condemning the presence of an anti-Muslim hate symbol at the Modi-allied New York Indian Consulate for the city’s India Day parade on Aug. 18.

An interfaith coalition has also already begun to plan a large protest outside the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, where Modi is slated to speak. Washington state representative Pramila Jayapal has condemned Hindu nationalism on numerous occasions, and she circulated a letter in June signed by dozens of U.S. lawmakers highlighting Modi’s concerning human rights record during his last visit to the U.S. in June. According to Pew Research, a plurality of Americans who know who Modi is “have little or no confidence in his ability to do the right thing regarding world affairs.” Around the world, and especially in Europe, attitudes toward Modi have become more negative.

Indian Americans, local, and national politicians must build off this momentum, bringing up Modi’s sordid record on human rights and democracy during his upcoming visit.

Such a display will have international ramifications. The Indian diaspora has been referred to as “Modi’s secret weapon” for a reason, offering both vital financial and political support for his policies at home. With American diaspora events widely reported in major Indian news outlets, any and all criticism of Modi is bound to resound abroad. 

It will also send a powerful message that Modi critics in the diaspora can’t be silenced. Indian Americans have been sent death threats via online BJP trolls, Overseas Citizenship of India card statuses have been revoked, and Indian family members of U.S. citizens have been interrogated. Reporting in The Washington Post has revealed that former Indian intelligence officials targeted several U.S. organizations with wide-reaching disinformation campaigns aimed at Congress to discredit Modi’s American critics. The Indian government was even accused of two assassination plots—one of them deadly—targeting Sikhs on North American soil last year.

Standing up to Modi and his Hindu nationalism may also help improve domestic ties within the Indian American diaspora. A new survey conducted by my organization, the Indian American Council, and ReThink Media, revealed that more than 80% of Indian American Muslim respondents have faced discrimination from their Hindu peers. As one of the survey respondents remarked: “I have lost good, old friends to Islamophobia and hatred brewed by the BJP government.”

One pro-Modi Hindu nationalist organization in the U.S., the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, has sent millions of dollars to its Indian counterpart, which has been accused of orchestrating violence against Muslims. Another pro-Modi Hindu nationalist group, the Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, reportedly hosted a Texas fundraiser to raise money to destroy churches in India. Modi’s U.S. visit is bound to rally organizations whose presence in American communities is profoundly harmful to the diaspora and U.S. at large.

With 50% of Indian Americans supporting Modi compared to 74% of Indians in India, according to a Carnegie Endowment study, it’s about time that his American critics like us make our voice heard. Indian Americans and Americans of all faiths cannot continue to allow Modi to use our country as a platform to legitimize his policies abroad, and to spread hate here at home.

On Modi’s latest U.S. visit, we must use our voices to redirect the U.S.-India relationship in a more productive direction, making it clear that if India is to continue to receive diaspora support, Modi must immediately put an end to his regime’s persecution of minorities, its attacks on the free press, and its attempt to export these hateful policies into the United States.