PM Modi To Take Two Questions In Rare Presser With Joe Biden

In a rare press conference, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden will take questions from journalists on Thursday, a senior White House official informed.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the US administration understands the press conference is a big deal.

"We are just grateful that Prime Minister Modi is participating in a press event at the end of the visit," Kirby was quoted saying by Reuters.

"We think that's important and we're glad he thinks that's important too," he added.

The format of the press conference on Thursday will allow only one question from the US press and one from an Indian journalist. By convention, leaders take questions from two reporters on each side.

White House press conferences with other world leaders have been tightly controlled, with U.S. officials designating reporters beforehand from the American and foreign media for Biden and his guest to call upon, and a very limited number of questions.

Democrats have urged Biden to bring up human rights with PM Modi amid concerns about democratic backsliding in India under the Bharatiya Janata Party. Human rights could be one topic of the press conference.

Notably, PM Modi has not addressed a single press conference in India since becoming prime minister about nine years ago. In May 2019 he attended a press conference but never took questions.

Biden not to lecture Modi on human rights

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said US President Joe Biden is expected to bring up US concerns about democratic backsliding in India, but he will not lecture PM Modi on the subject.

"We do so publicly. We do so privately. We do so in a way where we don't seek to lecture or assert that we don't have challenges ourselves....And that will be the nature of the conversations that take place here over the course of the next couple of days," he was quoted as saying by the US media.