Quizzing US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on 6 April 2022, Representative Ilhan Omar asked: “Why has the Biden administration been so reluctant to criticize Modi’s government on human rights?”

Representative Omar’s question came a little less than a year before Eric Garcetti was finally confirmed as the US’s ambassador to India, filling a position that had lain vacant since the day Donald Trump departed the presidency in January 2021. Now that President Joe Biden is finally sending an official representative to Delhi, Omar’s enquiry takes on greater relevance. Will the Biden administration, represented by Ambassador Garcetti, finally call Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to task for his regime’s rapidly escalating violations of human rights?

In that regard, Garcetti’s past remarks during the confirmation process were promising, if unfortunately rather vague and confined to a single occasion.

Responding to questions by Senator Ben Cardin at a 14 December 2021 Senate Foreign Relations hearing about his nomination, Garcetti declared, “The US-India relationship should be underpinned by our common commitment to democracy, to human rights, and to civil society. It’s enshrined in our constitutions — the oldest democracy in the world and the largest democracy in the world. Human rights and defense of democracy is a pillar of our foreign policy.” Thus, he promised, human rights will be a “core part” of his diplomatic agenda in India and he will “actively raise these issues.”