India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting France to be the guest of honor at the country’s annual national festival on July 14, Bastille Day.
The visit comes at a momentous time as the two countries celebrate 25 years of their strategic partnership of civil cooperation in the fields of nuclear, space and defense.
In recent years, the partnership has expanded into areas such as energy and countering cyberterrorism. French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said Modi’s presence and the participation of Indian forces in the Bastille Day parade would mark a “new phase in the strategic relationship”.
“India and France have always been strong partners. It is a historical relationship that goes back decades, predates Modi and goes much deeper than just business relationships,” said Jean-Luc Racine, senior fellow at the Center for South Asian Studies in Paris. “It has an extremely important defense and security dimension.”
What is meant is the deepening of naval and security cooperation between Paris and New Delhi in the Indo-Pacific, where France has a number of islands and a huge maritime exclusive economic zone. The relationship is largely driven by shared concerns about China’s growing influence in the region.
France is also India’s second largest arms supplier after Russia, and the war in Ukraine has prompted New Delhi to accelerate efforts to diversify its sources of military equipment outside of Moscow.
According to reports, Modi’s visit could result in the two countries announcing new contracts for the naval version of France’s Rafale fighter jets, tailored for use on aircraft carriers, and three Scorpene-class submarines.
“Inevitable Nature” of India-France Relations
Some analysts point out that the global context of Modi’s visit to France is just as important.
India chairs the Group of 20 (G20) this year – a club of the world’s leading developed and emerging economies – and Modi, who has deftly balanced ties with both the West and Russia, is being courted on all sides, though he did not condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the increase in oil imports from Moscow.
In many ways, France sees India as the perfect ally to bridge the divisions exposed and exacerbated by Russia’s military aggression.
In a briefing this week, the Elysee spoke of the “inevitability” of partnering with India, which it says is now the world’s fifth-biggest economy and France’s second-biggest economic partner in Asia.
According to reports, India and France could announce a new contract for the naval version of France’s Rafale fighter jets, tailored for use on aircraft carriers. Credit: Lewis Joly/AP Photo/Picture Alliance
“There is a high degree of trust and security as well as ideological convergence between India and France. Both countries attach great importance to an independent way of acting and thinking,” Harsh Pant of the New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation told DW.
“The way India has positioned itself, its diplomacy and its global reach gives the impression that India represents a large number of countries whose voices on existential issues such as price hikes, food, fertilizer and energy prices due to the … not to be heard.” War,” he said.
“India could help France and the West reach a large part of the world where currently there appears to be no division.”
Why some criticize Macron’s move to invite Modi
But not everyone in France welcomes Modi with open arms.
“India is a friend. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi is far-right and fiercely hostile to Muslims in his country,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the opposition far-left France Unbowed party, tweeted last month.
“He is not welcome on July 14, a celebration of liberty, equality and fraternity which he despises.”
Green Party leader Marine Tondelier said choosing Modi as guest of honor was a “grave political error” on Macron’s part.
“It must be remembered that since Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, India, which is commonly referred to as the world’s largest democracy, has continued to backslide in terms of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Tondelier wrote in an article in French Newspaper Liberation.
India also reportedly intends to purchase three Scorpene-class submarines. Image: Imtiyaz Shaikh/AA/Picture Alliance
Modi’s government has been accused of suppressing the media, which has caused India to fall 11 places to 161 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders in Paris in May.
In the same month, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended for the fourth consecutive year that the Indian government be blacklisted from religious freedom.
“It is either completely ignorant of India’s domestic political context or completely cynical to invite Mr Modi as the guest of honor of the Republic of France on the most emblematic day of the year,” wrote Tondelier.
“Inviting Modi is a wrong message”
In France, where there is no large Indian diaspora, criticism of India is rare. But on a recent afternoon, in a basement in Paris, a small group of people prepared placards that read, “Not today, Mr Modi! Bastille Day is Freedom Day” and “No to Modi’s far-right agenda”.
They were planning a protest rally in central Paris on the eve of Modi’s appearance at Thursday’s military parade.
“Bastille Day represents a certain ethos and values that are under attack in India,” Shailendra, a Paris resident, told DW. “Inviting Modi sends the wrong message.”
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However, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Jean-Louis Bourlanges, dismissed concerns about India’s democratic backsliding when asked about Modi’s invitation in the French parliament last month.
“India is certainly an imperfect democracy. But it is a democracy that is an absolute model if you compare it to Russia, China or many countries in Africa,” he said.
However, some believe that France should walk a fine line by denouncing rights abuses by allies like India while continuing to work with them.
“Of course, you can’t equate India and China when it comes to human rights abuses,” Balveer Arora, former rector and pro-vice chancellor of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, told DW.
“The big difference is that in China there are no freedoms at all. Here in India they exist and are trampled on,” he said. “This is the tragedy and why countries like France should care.”
Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru