Washington: Days after US Representative Ilhan Omar questioned the reluctance of President Joe Biden’s administration to criticize Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government over its alleged anti-Muslim policies, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken alleged that India is witnessing a rise in human rights abuse.
On Monday, in a joint press briefing with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Blinken said, “we are monitoring some recent concerning developments in India including a rise in human rights abuses by some government, police and prison officials”.
While Blinken did not speak more on it, Singh and Jaishankar avoided reacting to the comment.
Ilhan Omar’s question
Recently, Ilhan Omar asked, “How much does the Modi administration have to criminalize the act of being Muslim in India for us to say something? What will it take for us to outwardly criticize the action that the Modi administration is taking against its Muslim minorities?”
In a tweet, she added, “Why has the Biden Administration been so reluctant to criticize Modi’s government on human rights?”
Issues that grabbed global attention
In 2019, the central government led by BJP brought legislation, Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, to give citizenship based on religion.
As per the act, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Sikhs from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh who have entered India on or before December 31, 2014, are eligible to get citizenship.
Many experts alleged that it is the first step toward the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Although, the government denied any link between CAA and NRC, massive protests were held across the country.
The recent controversy over the Hijab ban in Karnataka also gained attention globally. The controversy erupted in Udupi spread across the state.
Later, a demand to ban halal meat also gained a lot of attention. Right-wing groups are demanding a ban on halal meat by teaming it ‘economic jihad’.
