The Democratic Party of India lobbied US lawmakers after the dilution of Article 370. India’s lobbying expenditure in the US increased under Modi’s administration.
New Delhi: In the wake of criticism of the reading down of Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its autonomy, an obscure entity called “The Democratic Party of India” (DPI) attempted to influence US lawmakers’ views. According to The Caravan, the address of the Indian Embassy in Washington is 2107 Massachusetts Avenue. This address was registered as the address of DPI. However, the embassy denied any association with DPI when enquiries were made.
Independent journalist Urvashi Sarkar reported that Cornerstone Government Affairs, a Washington DC-based consulting firm, represented the Democratic Party of India. Citing public records filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of the US, the report stated that the embassy had a contract. The contract was for “strategic counsel, tactical planning, and government relations assistance on policy matters before the U.S. Government, the U.S. Congress, and select state governments, as well as academic institutions and think-tanks”, allowing India’s lobbying in the US.
India’s spend on lobbying in US increased manifold under Modi
The report says India’s lobbying in the US – a legal yet controversial method to influence policy – goes back decades. But the Modi government “appears to have taken lobbying efforts in the United States to unprecedented levels. Since coming to power in 2014, it has paid over $10 million to lobbying firms. This payment was made through the Indian embassy in Washington DC, according to the report.
It added that these efforts intensified sharply in response to international criticism over the scrapping of Article 370 in August 2019. They also intensified in response to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act passed a few months later. Additionally, they intensified in response to the mass protests opposing new farm laws after September 2020. According to US Department of Justice records, the government signed lobbying contracts worth over $4.41 million between June 2019 and September 2022.
Condemnation
Following the reading down of Article 370 in August 2019, there was widespread condemnation of the move. “By mid-December, prominent Democrats in the US Congress had sponsored two resolutions aimed at the Modi government.” Both resolutions called on the Modi government to respect human rights. One of the resolutions expressed support for Kashmiri self-determination, according to the report.
DPI’s services engaged amid mounting criticism over Article 370 move
On December 10, 2019, then-ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla informed two senior members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives. He stated that he had decided in the interests of “good governance, economic opportunities, and socio-economic justice.” He also mentioned that the situation in Kashmir “had returned to normalcy.”
The report stated that Shringla invited members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) to a meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on December 18. The meeting was abruptly canceled. This happened after Pramila Jayapal, the sponsor of one of the resolutions on Kashmir, was added to the list of attendees on the US side.
Jayapal had thereafter labelled the cancellation as “deeply disturbing.”
Amidst criticism of India, The Caravan report said that on December 1, 2019, Cornerstone Government Affairs began working on behalf of the Government of India. Cornerstone Government Affairs reported this association to the US Department of Justice under FARA.
The same day, it added, Cornerstone “acquired a new foreign principal” called the Democratic Party of India. However, in the legal contract, Cornerstone Government Affairs avoided mentioning the DPI. Instead, it identified the Republic of India as the “foreign principal” it was representing. This allowed India’s lobbying in the US.
An Indian Express report from December 8, 2019, stated that the Indian Embassy in the US hired Cornerstone Government Affairs. The purpose was to “build a positive opinion in Washington DC and beyond,” enabling India’s lobbying efforts in the US.
DPI used for covertly influencing US politicians
According to the report, the Modi government used the Democratic Party of India (DPI) to covertly influence US politicians. The report adds that FARA records on the DPI show that Cornerstone Government Affairs emailed at least 10 US lawmakers. They did this on behalf of the DPI. The subjects of these emails included phrases like “offering meeting” and “flagging letter sent to HFAC offices by Ambassador.” On December 10, the day Shringla wrote to HFAC representatives, Cornerstone Government Affairs sent these emails.
The following month, Cornerstone Government Affairs disclosed their actions. These actions included arranging an in-person meeting with Eliot Engel, then chairperson of the HFAC, regarding Jammu and Kashmir. They also emailed a “Kashmir update” to HFAC members. In addition, they invited HFAC members to an event with Shringla. Furthermore, they requested meetings with the embassy’s deputy chief of mission, sending these requests to multiple lawmakers’ offices.
The report also cited a FARA filing submitted in February 2020. It stated that Cornerstone Government Affairs had done all of this in the name of the Democratic Party of India. In December 2019 and January 2020, Cornerstone documented over 120 communications with Congress representatives for DPI. It also filed its expenditures for this as work for the DPI. It claimed to have spent $38,575 from December 5 to January 2020. Additionally, it reported spending an extra $39,345 on travel expenses and meeting expenses in the DPI’s name. The payments for these expenditures came from the Indian government, allowing India’s lobbying in the US.
Lobbied for COVID lockdown, situation on China border
The report stated that “by early 2020 it appears that DPI’s lobbying efforts extended beyond the issue of Kashmir.” A filing on the DPI showed that on March 24, 2020, Cornerstone emailed US lawmakers. The subject of the email was “India lockdown for 21 days.”
In another August 31, 2020 filing, Cornerstone again identified their foreign principal as the Democratic Party of India. During that period, Cornerstone continued to communicate with US lawmakers on behalf of the DPI, according to the report. This involved sending out reception invitations. It also included requests for meetings with the newly appointed Ambassador, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and the new deputy chief of mission. Additionally, Cornerstone sent email updates on the COVID-19 lockdown in India.
In June of that year, they sent an email. The email was sent to the HFAC and the offices of lawmakers. It included then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. The email pertained to India’s statements on the situation at the India-China border.
RTI filed to learn about relationship between DPI and Indian embassy
Sarkar wrote that on February 15, 2021, she submitted a Right to Information (RTI) application to the Indian embassy. The application sought information on the Democratic Party of India. It also sought information on the party’s relationship with the government, the embassy, and Cornerstone. This relationship allowed India’s lobbying efforts in the US.
In her application, she asked about the DPI’s links to any political party in India, who regulates it, and what its sources of finances are. The embassy turned down her information request, citing Section 8 (1) (a) of the RTI Act, which pertains to information that “would prejudicially affect relations with the host country.” The embassy also rejected the first appeal against its refusal to share information, citing the same section.
Then Sarkar filed her appeal with the Central Information Commission against the dismissal of her RTI petition. She said, “on the very same day, Cornerstone submitted a filing updating the previous three submissions ‘to correct a client name to the Republic of India’. The re-submitted forms removed any mention of the DPI as the foreign principal. Between December 2019 and August 2020, a total of five documents had previously mentioned the DPI. After the change, all further mention of the DPI disappeared from the filings.”
Washington mission “not aware of” DPI
Stating that Cornerstone continued to work for India and reached out to Congresspersons on India’s relations with Afghanistan, COVID-19 vaccine exports, and meeting preparations for the new ambassador Sandhu, Sarkar wrote that her requests for information on DPI were also “stonewalled by the CIC after this”.
In September 2022, she wrote, “Karthik Iyer, the central public information officer of the Indian Embassy in Washington, replied to the CIC that the, ‘Embassy of India at Washington DC is not aware of ‘The Democratic Party of India’ and why it finds mention on the website of the Department of Justice’.” The CIC then reviewed and upheld the decision to dismiss Sarkar’s appeal in October 2022.
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ECI also not aware of DPI
The report said the DPI had a peculiar name and though it was rare, it was not unheard of for foreign political parties to be active in the United States. So Sarkar filed a series of RTI applications with the Election Commission of India to learn about the DPI. She wrote that the ECI in an RTI response initially pointed her to a Democratic Party of India that was registered in Nagpur, and which came up in 1989, but its national working president G.S. Rathee denied any knowledge of its eponymous counterpart in Washington DC or how it came up without its consent.
To another RTI related to the DPI in the US, the ECI replied that it seemed to be “related to some organization/agent presumably engaged by the Government of India under the Foreign Agents Registration Act,” and that it was “neither aware nor concerned with any such agency set up in USA.” The ECI also observed that there was “no specific provision in the Indian Constitution or the election laws framed by the Parliament” on foreign political parties.
Was DPI created to keep India out of the picture?
When Sarkar reached out to US-based experts on foreign lobbying, they said it was odd that the Indian embassy was seeking to disassociate itself from the DPI despite strong evidence, in the form of publicly available FARA documents, pointing to their relationship.
The Caravan report cited James Thurber, who researches foreign lobbying, as saying: “This is odd and strange. It seems to be a party which does not exist, but was created for the purpose of registration—to keep the Republic of India out of the picture. The DPI seems to have been created during a period when there was great focus and criticism on the Indian government for Kashmir.”
Likewise, it quoted Benjamin Freeman, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, as commenting: “It’s very interesting that they [the Indian Embassy] are going to such great lengths to hide the DPI.”
Daniel Auble, a senior researcher at the Centre for Responsive Politics, asked when it was okay for countries to make groups on paper to encourage trade, business and bilateral ties, “Why be super-secretive about it?”
‘Indian embassy lobbying synced with BJP’s’
The report said the Indian embassy’s lobbying is also complemented by the BJP’s own lobbying. “The US chapter of the Overseas Friends of BJP, the foreign arm of the BJP, registered as a foreign agent in August 2020, in the run-up to that year’s US presidential election. This reportedly followed rumours that the OF-BJP was under investigation by US authorities for violating the FARA, prompting the OF-BJP to deny any investigation and say that it had registered voluntarily.”
It added that soon after, Vijay Chauthaiwale, the head of foreign affairs for the BJP, had warned OF-BJP members against using the organisation to campaign for US election candidates.
Sarkar also wrote that her attempts to get a response from Shringla, Sandhu and Geoff Gonella, the president and managing director of Cornerstone, on the issue remained unsuccessful. In response to a “detailed questionnaire” sent to him, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said: “The Ministry of External Affairs refused to comment.”
While the Indian government has still not commented on the issue, Lalit K. Jha, the US correspondent of news agency PTI, said that The Caravan article is “deceptive and written with malafide intention”. He said the reference to Democratic Party of India “appears to be a clerical error”.
Original Source: The Wire
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