WASHINGTON: US financier and philanthropist George Soros on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Modi accusing him of transform India into a “Hindu nationalist” state and threatening to strip Muslims of their citizenship.
Modi-threat to Muslims
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Soros said:
“A democratically elected Narendra Modi is creating a Hindu nationalist state, imposing punitive measures on Kashmir, a semi-autonomous Muslim region, and threatening to deprive millions of Muslims of their citizenship,” said.
The comments by the Hungarian-born billionaire have stirred a hornet’s nest in India.
Meanwhile, India is also witnessing large-scale protests in different parts of the country against and in support of Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC.
Excluding Muslims, CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
Authoritarian rulers
The founder and Chairman of the Open Society Foundations expressed grief that the world’s strongest powers — the United States, China and Russia under President Vladimir Putin — were “in the hands of would-be or actual dictators and the ranks of authoritarian rulers continued to grow.”
He said humanity was at a turning point and the coming years would determine the fate of rulers like President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping as well as the world itself.
Neglected populations
It would seek to reach out to “places in need of high quality education and in serving neglected populations” such as refugees, prisoners, the Roma and other displaced peoples like the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, he said.
“To demonstrate our commitment to OSUN, we are contributing one billion dollars to it,” said Soros in his traditional annual Davos address.
You can watch the entire session here.