Modi says ‘no discrimination’ in India at first press conference as leader – National | 24CA News
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took questions from reporters for the primary time in his nine-year tenure, dismissing issues about human rights and experiences of discrimination in opposition to spiritual minorities like Muslims.
Modi met with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington D.C., the place the 2 took questions from reporters throughout a state go to aimed toward beefing up ties between the 2 nations.
“What steps are you and your government willing to take to improve the rights of Muslims and other minorities in your country and to uphold free speech?” requested Wall Street Journal reporter Sabrina Saddiqui, who additionally requested about Modi’s dedication to democratic values.
“Democracy is in our DNA. Democracy is our spirit. Democracy runs in our veins. We live democracy,” Modi stated in Hindi by a translator.
He added: “We have proved democracy can deliver. If there are no human values, no human rights, no humanity, it’s not a democracy. When we live in a democracy, there’s no place for discrimination. In India, there is no discrimination on the basis of caste or creed or age or any kind of geographical location.”
Modi didn’t, nonetheless, deal with spiritual discrimination – about which he was particularly requested.
His authorities has been accused by critics of fostering an surroundings hostile to India’s Muslim minority. He additionally steered away from addressing particular complaints of crackdowns in opposition to political opponents.
Contrary to Modi’s declare, a Human Rights Watch report final 12 months stated that caste-based violence in India had been on the rise lately, significantly in opposition to members of the Dalit caste.
It additionally flagged what researchers known as the “vilification” of and assaults on Muslims, in addition to a rising threat of “politically motivated harassment, prosecutions, and tax raids.”
Biden described the India-U.S. relationship as “among the most consequential in the world.”
He was additionally requested about India’s human rights document and whether or not he raised the difficulty with Modi.
“The prime minister and I had a good discussion about democratic values. That’s the nature of our relationship, we can be straightforward with each other,” Biden stated, including that Washington’s human rights issues with India can’t be equated with the issues that they’ve with China.
“We (India and the United States) are both democracies and respect each other.”
The two leaders had been additionally requested about their dedication to preventing local weather change collectively.
According to CNN, Indian officers had insisted that the 2 leaders not take any questions however subject a joint assertion as an alternative. In the tip, nonetheless, the American facet prevailed, and the Indian delegation agreed to a compromise on the eve of Modi’s go to.
This is the primary time Modi has fielded any questions at a press convention since taking workplace as prime minister in May 2014. In 2019, Modi attended a press convention on the headquarters of his celebration, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), however didn’t area any questions.
All questions, as an alternative, had been answered by a senior celebration functionary sitting subsequent to Modi.
Several distinguished American voices have known as on Biden to denounce the rise of Hindu nationalism in India and lift issues about fears of a democratic backslide within the nation.
This consists of Vermont Democratic Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
“Prime Minister Modi’s government has cracked down on the press and civil society, jailed political opponents, and pushed an aggressive Hindu nationalism that leaves little space for India’s religious minorities. President Biden should raise these facts in his meeting with Modi,” Sanders has stated.
Democratic Representatives Rashiba Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stated they had been boycotting Modi’s deal with to Congress on Thursday afternoon.
“In 2005, Narendra Modi was denied a U.S. visa because of his violations of religious freedom, including his complicity in an anti-Muslim riot that left over 1,000 dead,” Ocasio-Cortez stated in a press release.
“It’s shameful that Modi has been given a platform at our nation’s capital—his long history of human rights abuses, anti-democratic actions, targeting Muslims & religious minorities, and censoring journalists is unacceptable. I will be boycotting Modi’s joint address to Congress,” tweeted Rashida Tlaib.
Omar stated she can be holding a briefing with human rights teams to debate Modi’s document.
India’s rank on the Reporters Sans Frontiers press freedom index slipped to 161st place this 12 months, after the federal government raided the BBC’s places of work in India following protection vital of the prime minister.
Earlier this 12 months, Rahul Gandhi – India’s most distinguished opposition chief and a staunch critic of Modi – was faraway from Indian parliament after he was convicted in a defamation case.
Minority communities in India, significantly the almost 172 million Indian Muslims, have confronted elevated assaults since Modi took workplace.
India has seen open requires the ethnic cleaning of Muslims and Christians, which prompted the group Genocide Watch to subject a ‘Genocide Alert’ for India. The U.S. Holocaust memorial museum additionally positioned India at threat of a mass atrocity.
The group Hindus for Human Rights wrote an open letter to Biden, urging him to “lead the fight against authoritarianism” and “take a stand publicly.”
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