Build Indo-American Ties on Hindu Respect for Christians

President Trump hosts Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. They will seek to rekindle their personal, very special relationship, overcome bilateral disputes about trade, tariffs, and immigration, and forge a strategic bulwark against the two countries’ mutual enemy: the Chinese Communist Party.

Topical as all those agenda items are, one may be of surpassing importance: the systematic persecution of Christians and others by the Prime Minister’s Hindu nationalist base and its party, the BJP.

Mr. Trump has rightly made a personal priority of protecting Christians and promoting religious tolerance. Seven years ago, he challenged then-Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari over his government’s failure to stop the genocidal murder of Christians. It made a difference, at least for a time.

A real Indo-American strategic partnership must be founded on an enduring respect for non-Hindu minorities and lower-caste Indians. Let it begin today.

This is Frank Gaffney.