Editorials »
Biden and #MeToo Joe Biden, the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, has a problem. Those competing in the vicepresidential sweepstakes to join the Biden ticket as his running mate have a problem. Most of all, the Democratic Party has a problem. What the Democratic Party has touted in the past as the proper response to allegations of sexual abuse is now coming back to haunt them. Since the #MeToo movement went viral in the wake of allegations against Harvey Weinstein in 2017, leaders in the Democratic Party supported women who came forward to detail their experience. That, combined with Joe Biden’s own history — he authored the Violence Against Women Act, led an Obama administration effort to address sexual assault on college campuses, and voiced support for all women who raise similar allegations — puts party faithful in an uncomfortable position. That is because at the end of March, a former Biden aide named Tara Reade
claimed that when she worked for Biden in 1993, he sexually assaulted her. Biden, his vice presidential contenders, and many in the Democratic Party are now trying to figure out how to deal with the allegation. Following mounting pressure to address the issue, Biden appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” last week and denied the allegation. He also addressed the apparent hypocrisy between his denial now and comments in support of Christine Blasey Ford during the Brett Kavanaugh hearing. “Look, from the very beginning, I’ve said believing women means taking the woman’s claim seriously when she steps forward, and then vet it,” Biden said. “Look into it. That’s true in this case as well. Women have a right to be heard, and the press should rigorously investigate claims they make. I’ll always uphold that principle. But in the end, in every case, the truth is what matters. And in this case, the truth is the claims are false.” Some in the Democratic Party — including those who supported Ford during the
Kavanaugh hearings — have made comments in support of Biden. Some have stayed quiet. But many, it seems, would like this issue to go away without too much conversation about it. That is not likely to happen. It is important to acknowledge sexual assault even when it’s inconvenient and even when the allegations are against someone in your own party. And it’s important to support the people who come forward to talk about this difficult subject. Support does not mean unqualified belief in an accusation. Rather, it means providing a framework for allegations to be reviewed in an even-handed, open-minded manner. All of which is very difficult to achieve in general, and even more so in a politically charged environment like a presidential campaign or a Supreme Court nomination. In this case, a thorough investigation will be best for Biden, for the Democratic Party, and for the electorate. We may not get a conclusive answer, but we need to try. J T
India’s Hindu-Only Democracy India has been called the world’s largest democracy. With its billion-plus citizens, it was founded as a secular democracy to be shared by a multiplicity of groups, languages, and religions. But that isn’t how the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sees it. Instead, BJP and its leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have made it clear that India is a state for Hindus, but Muslims are not welcome. India has a Muslim population of 182 million people — the third largest Muslim population in the world, just behind Indonesia and Pakistan. Concern over India’s growing discrimination against its Muslim residents has gone so far as to lead the independent, bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to recommend that the State Department designate India as a country of “particular concern” when it comes to religious freedom. That would place the country of Gandhi and Nehru in the same group as such notable dictatorships, theocracies, and thugocracies as China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. 6
Baltimore Jewish Times May 8, 2020
BJP’s landslide victory in parliamentary elections last spring accelerated the state’s anti-Muslim activities. For example, Modi’s government passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, to create a fast track for citizenship for migrants from surrounding countries who are already in India — as long as they’re not Muslims. This came as India’s state of Assam implemented a National Register of Citizens to help identify illegal migrants. Those not included on the list live in fear of “statelessness, deportation or prolonged detention,” according to UN reports. Although originally intended to protect Hindus and weed out Muslims and other “foreigners,” it turned out that some of the 1.9 million residents who were excluded from the Register were Hindus. BJP officials are, nonetheless, advocating for a nationwide register of citizens. That has generated fear among Muslims that they will be vilified and declared stateless. As if that weren’t enough, there is also the government’s crackdown on the autonomy of the country’s Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir, and the rights of its citizens, including mob
lynching and other violence against Muslims. The Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended that the United States sanction the agencies and officials within India’s government who are responsible for what it finds to be “severe violations of religious freedom.” It calls for U.S. diplomatic missions to work to “build capacity to protect religious minorities.” India is a significant U.S. ally, and has increasingly warmed toward Israel. But Modi’s government has rejected the report, calling it “biased and tendentious.” The battle lines have been drawn. It is now up to the U.S. government to stand behind its Commission’s findings, and to speak out forcefully against India’s growing government-backed xenophobia and the targeting of the country’s Muslim community. Such a move would, undoubtedly, be a big step for the Trump administration. But it is a perfect opportunity for the administration to show concern, compassion, and leadership in helping guarantee minority rights while supporting a democratic government and strong international relations. J T
