Engel, Schumer welcome Indian prime minister

As the U.S. and Indian national anthems played at Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appearance at the packed Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Riverdale’s Rep. Eliot Engel and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer were among the American politicians alongside the visiting leader.

Mr. Modi targeted his speech at Indian-Americans, drawing explosive applause for promises to make it easier for them to get visas, among other plans to strengthen India’s international presence.

In a phone interview Monday, Mr. Engel said he found Mr. Modi “very down-to-Earth, helpful and easy to talk to” and noted the visiting leader “took pictures with everybody” during a private meeting with the congressman and others before the speech.

Mr. Schumer’s office said the senator was not available for an interview, but provided a statement saying, “I look forward to working closely with our friends in India, including Prime Minister Modi, as we strengthen and grow the prosperous and mutually beneficial relationship between our nations.”

Days before Mr. Modi began his U.S. trip, which was to include a meeting with President Barack Obama, activists sued him in federal court for alleged crimes against humanity related to his handling of 2002 riots in Gujarat. About 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, died in the violence, which took place while he was chief minister of the state.

Mr. Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, compared Mr. Modi’s handling of the Gujarat riots to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his allies’ crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood last year.

“There was a lot of criticism with the way they handled it,” Mr. Engel said. “I think ultimately, what you should do is put it in context of what you want to do in the future and what you want to see — not to forget about it, not to not mention it.”

Since the U.S. previously banned Mr. Modi from travelling here, he made his latest trip on a diplomatic visa. But Mr. Engel said he declined to bring up the charges against India’s prime minister, saying, “It would have been inappropriate” while Mr. Modi was in town to give what the congressman called “a feel-good speech.”

Cuomo’s trip questioned

Mr. Engel had more critical words about Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s weekend trip to Afghanistan.

During the visit, Mr. Cuomo told reporters, “My goal is to have the most sophisticated homeland defense system ever designed by any state, period.” He did not go into details.

In a phone interview, Mr. Engel suggested he thought the governor was out of his league.

“I was surprised by it, frankly,” he said of the governor’s spontaneous trip. “It’s an international thing, but I guess he wants to step up his profile.”

Mr. Cuomo’s trip added to widespread speculation he wants to run for president. But Mr. Engel, who said he plans to support Hillary Clinton if she decides to run, was unimpressed.

“I suppose there are people who think if Hillary doesn’t run, Cuomo might be somebody to look at,” he said. “He feels by going to Afghanistan, it burnishes his credentials. I assume that’s his rationale, but I could be wrong.”

Mr. Engel added that Mr. Obama had asked the congressman to join a delegation of U.S. officials who attended the Monday swearing-in ceremony of Afghanistan’s new president, but that Mr. Engel ‘s schedule did not allow him to make the trip. Media reports indicated Mr. Cuomo was back in New York by the time of the ceremony.

Where’s the Green?

While the Green Party’s gubernatorial candidate is clamoring to participate in the recently announced debate between Mr. Cuomo and his Republican challenger, the Green Party nominee in the 34th state Senate race has barely made a peep so far this year.

Carl Lundgren’s challenge to state Sen. Co-majority Leader Jeff Klein has been confined to a website and a few social media accounts.

He told a reporter he would join a Monday rally calling for judicial reforms at the Bronx Supreme Court on the Grand Concourse. While the Green candidate for Attorney General, Ramon Jimenez, gave an impassioned speech there, Mr. Lundgren proved a no-show.

In a brief phone interview before the rally, he lamented a perennial problem for third-party candidates.

“We don’t have money, so there’s not a lot we can do,” said Mr. Lundgren.

One local Green Party member, John Reynolds, made it to Monday’s rally. He said it was hard to gauge how the roughly 100 Greens in the northwest Bronx felt about next month’s ballot.

“I really need to have a meeting in Kingsbridge and Riverdale with the Greens there, about our issues and our candidates,” he said on the sidelines of the rally. “When I was in touch with them last, they were very excited that we are running the campaigns that we’re running.”

Passionate cries for reform

The cause behind Monday’s rally prompted Mr. Jimenez to call the Bronx Supreme Court “the house of pain.”

Activists from a group named Discovery for Justice and several elected officials called for a change in the way evidence is used in criminal court cases. They said a provision known as Criminal Procedure Law 240 compels many innocent people to plead guilty, since it allows prosecutors to withhold evidence from defense attorneys until too late in the process.

Bronx Assemblymen Marcos Crespo and Luis Sepúlveda have co-sponsored a bill aimed at redressing the situation, but it is yet to pass the state Senate.

Activists, including a man who was exonerated after years of incarceration for a rape he did not commit, passionately railed against the state of affairs.

“The whole criminal justice system stinks! The whole criminal justice system needs complete reform!” Mr. Jimenez cried in front of about 100 people.