NEW DELHI: On the backdrop of a group of American lawmakers writing to United States President Joe Biden, asking him to raise directly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi what they called 'areas of concern' specifically referring to the State Department's 2022 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in India, the White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has indicated that while Biden would raise his concerns but will not 'lecture' the Indian leader.

Sullivan told reporters that when the US sees challenges to religious and press freedom it makes its views known. "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."

The NSA said that ultimately these issues and matters of democratic institutions in India would be determined within India by Indian and would not be determined by the US.

PM Modi who is on a full diplomatic state visit to the US unlike his previous five visits to the country, arrived in Washington, DC on Wednesday on the second leg of his visit and will be hold high-level talks with Biden on Thursday where they would discuss a wide range of issues of mutual and global interests.

The letter signed by 75 lawmakers, including Indian-American lawmaker Pramila Jayapal said, "As longtime supporters of a strong US-India relationship, we also believe that friends can and should discuss their differences in an honest and forthright way. That is why we respectfully request that - in addition to the many areas of shared interests between India and the US - you also raise directly with Prime Minister Modi areas of concern." 

Commissioner David Curry of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has also urged President Biden to address issues of religious freedom and other related human rights in India during PM Modi's state visit.