Opinion | Biden’s challenge: Praise India while cautioning Modi

The case for India as a bulwark against China has never been more urgent. India — one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, the most populous nation, a digital powerhouse and a seven-decade-old democracy, however imperfect — has immense potential as guardian and pacesetter for a free and open Indo-Pacific region. President Biden will talk with Mr. Modi about enhanced cooperation in defense, clean energy and space, as well as climate change, health security and trade.

Rana Ayyub: Modi is enflaming hatred of Muslims in India, as the world looks the other way

Some frictions are unavoidable. Mr. Modi has called for a cease-fire in Ukraine without condemning Russia’s invasion. Mr. Biden should also press Mr. Modi to halt India’s weapons sales to the military junta in Myanmar, prolonging and deepening a bloody civil war. These and other bilateral issues should not be difficult for Mr. Biden and Mr. Modi to navigate.

What will be more troublesome for Mr. Biden is to raise the retreat from democracy by Mr. Modi and his dominant Bharatiya Janata Party. Under the banner of a majoritarian Hindu nationalism, they have unleashed violence against Muslims and other minorities, eroded press freedoms and suffocated independent civil society. The president needs to be tactful. Mr. Biden and others who meet Mr. Modi should convey to him that democracy and respect for human dignity are force multipliers for India’s rising stature in the world and for dealing with its challenges at home. A weakened democracy, or a shell of one, will portend a weakened India.

Specifically, Mr. Modi should be encouraged to brake the spiral of communal violence and toxic hate directed at India’s roughly 200 million Muslims and other minorities. Recent Hindu festivals were marred by violence sparked when Hindus in processions passed through Muslim neighborhoods brandishing weapons and shouting anti-Muslim slogans. The government at all levels has adopted laws and policies that systematically discriminate against Muslims, and authorities in some states demolished property of Muslims in response to protests. Increasingly, the authorities act with impunity, and they are rarely held to account. Vigilante attacks go unpunished.

At the same time, Mr. Modi has led a broad assault on freedom of expression and dissent. Journalists are under intense pressure, some have been arrested, and others have been subjected to online harassment. The government controls many media outlets with close ties to the owners, as well as with direct orders about what to print or broadcast. It has sought to take down social media posts it does not like. In reaction to a BBC documentary about Mr. Modi and his relationship with the nation’s Muslims, the government attempted to block people from streaming it and then sent tax agents to raid BBC offices in New Delhi and Mumbai.

Also alarming is Mr. Modi’s crackdown on nongovernmental organizations and civil society activists, forcing them to comply with burdensome accounting for foreign funding. A fresh example was recently described in The Post: Indian tax authorities simultaneously raided three nonprofit organizations that the government believed were critics of Gautam Adani, one of India’s richest men and a political ally of Mr. Modi. The raids were a case study in how the Modi government uses state power to crimp its critics.

None of these actions befit the world’s most populous democracy. There will be a strong temptation by the White House to bring up the issue only privately and keep public remarks upbeat. A private conversation is definitely worthwhile. But Mr. Biden should also say something openly, as the leader of one major (imperfect) democracy to another. Friends have an obligation to speak the truth to friends.