Modi's "New India" Comes Into Foreign Critics' Homes To Kill

Speech on transnational repression at US Congressional briefing in Washington, DC

Three months ago, in April, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while campaigning for reelection, passionately declared to his supporters: “Today, even India’s enemies know: This is Modi, this is the New India.

“This New India,” said Modi, “comes into your home to kill you.”

Days later, he repeated the promise. With another message to India’s “enemies” (interpreted by Modi’s regime today as basically anyone who offers the mildest criticism of the human rights crisis for which he is responsible), he roared:“India no longer sends [documents], it kills enemies in their homes.”

The scary part about Modi’s words is that they are not hollow rhetoric. Nor was he offering sincere assurances of what he will do in the future. No, Modi was boasting about what he has already done in the very recent past — and, certainly, what he will try to do again in the near future if no one holds him accountable.

Modi was bragging about how his authoritarian regime has already entered the home of one of its critics in Canada and killed him. Modi was bragging about how his regime tried to enter the home of one of its critics in the United States to kill him. While running for reelection in India, Modi was issuing a brazen threat to North America about how his “New India” will eagerly chase down anyone abroad who tries to hold him accountable and gun them down.

In June of last year, just two days before Modi got the red carpet rolled out for him for an official State visit to the US, killers apparently hired by Indian intelligence services assassinated Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.

A week after Modi departed the US last year, a man accused of plotting the assassination of American Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was arrested. According to evidence uncovered by The Washington Post, that man, who is now facing charges in a New York City court, was operating on direct orders from at least one identified officer with RAW — India’s equivalent of the CIA — and was probably authorized to assassinate an American citizen on American soil with the direct approval of India’s highest level intelligence officials.

So believe Modi when he says: “The ‘New India’ comes into homes of foreign critics to kill them.”

Modi Thinks He Can Get Away With It

When The Washington Post asked one Western security official about why India would risk attempting an assassination on US soil, the official responded: “Because they knew they could get away with it.”

Indeed.

Consider the timing, after all. At a time when Modi is widely viewed as turning India into a backsliding democracy, into an authoritarian regime, into an autocracy, and some use far harsher terms — at such a time, the US government, despite being fully aware of what Modi’s “New India” represents, wined and dined him here in Washington, DC. Yet it was exactly as Modi was being feted in DC that his intelligence services were running assassination campaigns against his critics in North America.

Yes, the Modi regime thought it could get away with transnational repression. What’s concerning is that, if the tide doesn’t begin to turn in terms of how the US government chooses to respond to such shameless violations of our nation’s sovereignty, there’s nothing to say that Modi might not only get away with it in the end but also attempt it again.

Transnational repression has become yet another of the major markers of the rampant authoritarianism of Modi’s “New India” and how those physically threatened by it are no longer “just” people living within India’s borders.

According to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF):

"Transnational repression occurs when states use intimidation, harassment, or violence against those living outside their borders. Transnational repression campaigns often target political and human rights activists, journalists, and members of religious and ethnic minority groups. In extreme cases, tactics include detention, reprisals against family members, kidnapping, or, as illustrated by India, assassinations.”

In the case of India, it’s not like we — and when I say we, I mean the entire apparatus of the US government — didn’t already know about the warning signs of transnational repression long before things crossed over to the point of an attempted assassination.

For instance, Vox recently named just a handful of examples that occurred well before that attempted assassination:

“An American charity leader who spoke out on Indian human rights violations saw his Indian employees arrested en masse. An American journalist who worked on a documentary about India was put on a travel blacklist and deported. An American historian who studies 17th-century India received so many death threats that she could no longer speak without security. Even a member of Congress — and vocal critic of the Modi regime — said she was concerned about being banned from visiting her Indian parents.”

As Vox put it, these are actually the more commonly employed “subtle forms of harassment” which India employs — and which “fly under the public radar.”

Experiencing Transnational Repression Is Not Fun

I can attest to that.

You see, as I’ve spent years documenting the activities of American entities which are sympathetic to the Modi regime, as well as how fellow American critics of both the Modi regime and its supporters here in America routinely face harassment, a major goal of my work has been to prevent these things from flying under the “public radar.” As a result of the years that I’ve spent doing that, I then had the chance to personally experience transnational repression by the Modi regime in one of those subtler ways which did “fly under the public radar” until it was exposed by The Washington Report last year.

I can tell you: that personal experience of transnational repression is not fun.

While today the conversation has moved to transnational repression, for years I was doing investigative journalism about a subtle form of “foreign interference” by the Modi regime, arguing that evidence showed that multiple members of and candidates for US Congress were intimately associated with groups and individuals who appear to operate primarily as American advocates for Modi’s Hindu nationalist agenda. My reporting did not go unnoticed.

In 2021, months after my reportage exposed the Hindutva [Hindu nationalist] ties of a US congressional candidate, the Indian government itself stepped in to target me with a one-two attack.

First, a shadowy group called “DisInfo Lab” published a 100-page dossier on me, exposing details about my family and personal history, accusing me of working for Pakistani intelligence, and so on. The same day that the report was released, the Delhi Police hosted a press conference accusing me of connections to “terrorists” and implying that I was the “mastermind” behind a PDF social media “toolkit” which taught people how to talk about the then ongoing Farmers Protest. They stated that I have been “on the radar” of Indian intelligence agencies since 2006.

On the radar indeed.

Transnational Repression Comes In All Shapes And Sizes

Later investigative reporting by The Washington Post unearthed that the “Disinfo Lab” outlet which targeted me is actually a covert Indian intelligence operation run by a RAW officer. As WaPo explained: “The Disinfo Lab has often served as a rapid-reaction force to counter criticisms of the Modi government that have attracted international attention or to preempt anticipated flak.” Aside from myself, Disinfo Lab has run massive smear campaigns against major American advocacy organizations like Hindus for Human Rights and Indian American Muslim Council, against USCIRF, and even against members of Congress like Pramila Jayapal.

Disinfo Lab’s propaganda has been amplified, here in America, by major American Hindu nationalist entities, including groups like HinduPact and HinduAction which have a presence here on the Hill and are very influential with particular sitting members of Congress. This propaganda has also been amplified by BJP politicians back in India for the purpose of, to quote Hindus for Human Rights, “escalating a transnational campaign to silence an organization of progressive Hindus with a global audience.”

In one particular incident last year, a BJP leader shared a Disinfo Lab graphic targeting H4HR’s co-founder. When his post went viral, a BJP minister hosted an entire press conference about the issue, accusing the American H4HR of being involved in a global conspiracy to “destroy India.”

This incident was, to quote H4HR, “exemplary of the Indian government’s harassment of journalists, activists, and politicians in the U.S. who challenge the Indian government’s policies.”

Modi’s “New India,” though, is not just targeting American advocacy groups, but it’s also going after American reporters. Last year, for example, after journalist Sabrina Siddiqui attended the White House’s press conference with Modi and questioned him about the status of human rights in India, the BJP’s digital hit squads came after her with such an onslaught of threats that the White House itself was forced to step in and speak out against her harassment.

But it’s not just digital hit squads, RAW propaganda campaigns, and attempted assassinations. Transnational repression by Modi’s “New India” comes in all shapes and sizes.

Sometimes it looks like intimidation in America’s streets.

For example, in 2022, a bulldozer was deployed in an India Day parade in New Jersey. Hanging from the bulldozer were pictures of Modi as well as of Yogi Adityanath, the notorious Chief Minister of India’s most populous state, where the bulldozer is being used to routinely and extrajudicially demolish the homes, businesses, and religious sites of Muslims, particularly those known for their dissent.

The bulldozer kicked up a dust storm. Its presence in the parade was swiftly and roundly denounced, including by both of New Jersey’s senators, who declared: “The bulldozer has come to be a symbol of intimidation against Muslims and other religious minorities in India, and its inclusion in this event was wrong.”

What most of the reportage missed was the transnational repression aspect of that incident.

You see, marching directly ahead of the bulldozer was a contingent of the Overseas Friends of the BJP, the US wing of India’s BJP, which is an organization which is a registered foreign agent in America. And the man serving as Grand Marshall for the entire event was a BJP spokesperson from India.

Inclusion of the bulldozer was no accident, it was intended to intimidate, and its presence in American streets was almost certainly an orchestrated plan of India’s BJP.

Transnational repression also looks like radical hate-mongers from India being hosted by American Hindu nationalist outfits. One prominent example we saw in 2022 was when Sadhvi Ritambhara was invited over here for a national tour. Ritambhara, from India, is best known as “the most aggressive” organizer of a mob of 100,000 people who destroyed a historic mosque in 1992 — an incident which sparked the subsequent massacre of thousands of Indian Muslims. She is also known for anti-Christian campaigns in which she declares that “Christians will be wiped out from the face of India.”

She’s just one example of such hate-mongering Hindu nationalist demagogues who are being brought over here to spread poison and fear amongst the Indian diaspora.

But the “New India’s” transnational repression goes beyond intimidation in American streets. It also includes interference in American legislation.

Last year, for instance, after the California State Legislature passed a bill banning caste discrimination, the only thing required was for Governor Gavin Newsom to sign it into law. Instead, he vetoed it at the last minute after a few prominent Indian-Americans twisted his arm not to; but guess the common denominator was between those people?

They are connected to the Overseas Friends of the BJP, the foreign agent of India’s BJP.

Earlier, in 2020, an “unethical alliance” between prominent American Hindu nationalist entities and the Indian consulate generated massive pressure on the Chicago City Council to crush a resolution which denounced India’s “discriminatory” Citizenship Amendment Act. Key Hindu nationalist leaders behind that campaign are, once again, also involved in that registered foreign agent, the Overseas Friends of the BJP.

Moving beyond digital hit squads and real-world assassination attempts, intimidation in American streets and interference in legislation, and more, we could also touch, briefly, on electoral interference — or at least the threat of it.

During the 2020 US Presidential Election, another thing here that went under the “public radar” here in America but made headlines in India: a BJP spokesperson in India openly threatened to “interfere” — his words — in the election in response to Senator Bernie Sanders being critical about the human rights situation in India.

In 2019, as then President Trump campaigned for reelection, he joined Modi on stage in Houston, Texas. As we had a sitting president running for reelection, Modi stood next to Trump and declared, “Ab ki Baar, Trump Sarkar.” Translated to: “Once more, the Trump administration.”

This was widely interpreted by Indian media as an overt endorsement by Modi of Trump’s campaign for reelection. A foreign leader on American soil endorsing a sitting president for reelection. Whatever your opinion is of Trump, that’s inappropriate.

There’s so much more we could talk about.

We could talk about how, for instance, the Indian government pressured a library in Connecticut in 2019 to remove a memorial display donated by local Sikhs. Or we could talk about how the Indian consulate worked to block a 2016 resolution by the Fresno, CA City Council recognizing the 1984 Sikh Genocide. Or how the Hindu American Foundation, which is very active on the Hill and is widely perceived as a pro-Hindu nationalist outfit, so extensively lobbied against a congressional resolution criticizing Modi and Hindu nationalist violence that one congressional staffer said, “They are definitely trying to undermine anyone in Washington who is critical of Modi.”

Yes, the very same Modi who campaigns, now, with the assurance that the “New India” comes into the homes of his critics living abroad in order to kill them.

Addressing Modi’s Threats Against American Sovereignty

Throughout all of these varied forms of transnational repression we’re facing here in America, one of the worst outcomes is the chilling effect it creates. To quote John Sifton of Human Rights Watch:

“Indian Americans who are against the BJP, or oppose the BJP, have been intimidated and as a result routinely engage in self-censorship. I have heard them say as much to me. There are prominent Indian American intellectuals, writers, [and] celebrities who simply will not speak out against Modi because they are afraid that by doing so they will subject themselves to a torrent of online abuse and even death threats — something which I have personally witnessed, even among citizens.”

Even among citizens: US citizens. I can personally attest to the truth of that, having heard, over years, from Indian-Americans of all backgrounds how they do despise the direction that Modi has taken India but they are hesitant to say anything out of fear of the backlash they might face. And yes, that fear is present among Indian-Americans who hold US citizenship and who, therefore, ought to have no fear whatsoever of exercising their First Amendment rights without repercussion.

So, what is to be done?

Well, to quote USCIRF Commissioner David Curry:

“Within its own borders, Indian authorities have repeatedly used draconian legislation like the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and anti-conversion laws to systematically crack down on religious minorities, journalists, and activists. Extending this repression to target religious minorities from India living abroad, including intimidation tactics against journalists, is especially dangerous and cannot be ignored.”

Well, it’s not being ignored in some circles.

Last month, for instance, a coalition of US Senators led by Jeff Merkley warned that the Biden Administration must react to this most egregious example of transnational repression — the plotted assassination of an American citizen on American soil — with much more than hollow rhetoric.

“The Administration must match words with actions to hold Indian officials involved in the plot accountable, and to send a clear message that there will be consequences for such behavior,” they said. Warning of “India’s increasingly irresponsible efforts to silence critics of its government among its diaspora around the world,” they declared: “The United States must be firm and resolute in opposing transnational repression, no matter the perpetrator.”

No matter the perpetrator.

No matter the trade deals, or arms deals, or supposed shared values, or geo-political ambitions. No matter what vision the US has for our relationship with India, if India puts out a hit on one of our citizens, that is not just cause for pause. No, that is cause for completely reevaluating the relationship from the ground up.

That is particularly the case considering that, many months after Modi’s regime was accused of plotting the assassination of an American critic, he went on the campaign trail to brag about how “the ‘New India’ comes into homes of foreign critics to kill them.”

So what should members of the US Congress be doing in response to all of this?

It’s a very simple three things.

First, co-sponsor existing legislation to combat transnational repression, specifically the Transnational Repression Policy Act.

Second, take further action by speaking on the floor, both in support of the Transnational Repression Policy Act as well as against the “New India’s” emerging pattern of engaging in transnational repression against Americans.

Third, consider going further by introducing a resolution specifically censuring India for engaging in these sorts of activities.

Oh, and I almost forgot the fourth thing that US Congress can do. Remember that when Modi says his “New India” comes into the homes of his foreign critics to kill them, he means it.