India's Modi arrives at White House for ritzy state visit with Biden

WASHINGTON

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the White House Thursday for a ritzy state visit with US President Joe Biden that is slated to be replete with pomp and circumstance.

Modi was feted with a lavish arrival ceremony on the South Lawn, greeted by the Marine Corps band playing Hail to the Chief as throngs of White House visitors shouted his name.

But overshadowing the visit was an outpouring of criticism from human rights advocates that prompted three prominent Democratic US lawmakers to boycott his upcoming congressional address. Progressive Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar are slated to skip the event.

Separately, 70 Democrats from both the House of Representatives and the Senate wrote a letter to Biden to discuss the need to protect human rights and democratic values in India as he meets with Modi this week.

After a marching band clad in colonial-era garb concluded a performance on the South Lawn that included a rendition of Yankee Doodle, Biden welcomed Modi back to the White House, saying he has "long believed that the relationship between the United States and India will be one of the defining relationships of the 21st century."

"The challenges and opportunities facing the world in this century require that India and the United States work together and lead together, and we are," he said, touting the growing importance the nations are placing on a multinational group they are part of alongside Australia and Japan.

Appearing to address some of the rights criticism from his fellow Democrats, Biden said "equity under the law, freedom of expression, religious pluralism and diversity of our people -- these core principles have endured and evolved even as they have faced challenges throughout each of our nations' histories, and will fuel our strength, depth and future."

Speaking after Biden, Modi said the "grand welcome ceremony at the White House is an honor and pride for 1.4 billion people of India."

"For this honor, I express my heartfelt gratitude to President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden," he said. "

The US and India are half of a multilateral security and diplomatic arrangement, alongside Australia and Japan, that has grown in prominence in recent years as Washington seeks to build regional relationships in the Indo-Pacific to counterbalance China.

While the group's leaders have emphasized that it is short of a formal alliance, there has been increasing cooperation among member states on a range of topics, including security and economic matters.

The leaders are expected to hold a joint press conference, an exceedingly rare back-and-forth with the press for Modi, later Thursday afternoon.