Sabrina Siddiqui, the journalist from the United States who questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi on ‘discrimination against minorities in India’ during his visit to the US, was trolled and abused by pro-Hindutva social media users, notably on Twitter.
Siddiqui is the White House correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.
In one of the rare moments of a journalist directly posing a question to the PM, Siddique asked: “India has long prided itself as the world’s largest democracy, but there are many human rights groups who say that your government has discriminated against religious minorities and sought to silence its critics. As you stand here in the East Room of the White House, where so many world leaders have made commitments to protecting democracy, 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?”
Modi expressed his ‘surprise’ over the question and replied: “Democracy is our spirit. Democracy runs in our veins. We live democracy…our government has taken the basic principles of democracy…we have always proved that democracy can deliver. And when I say deliver, this is regardless of caste, creed, religion, gender. There is absolutely no space for discrimination.”
Heading the backlash against Siddique was BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya who called her question as ‘motivated’ and used terms like ‘toolkit gang’
“Prime Minister Modi completely destroyed the motivated question on steps being taken to ‘protect’ rights of Muslims and other minorities. In his response he didn’t mention Muslims or any other denomination, spoke about Constitution, access to Govt resources based on eligibility and no discrimination based on caste, creed, religion or geography… After President Biden’s cold response to a similar question, this was another blow to the toolkit gang.”Prime Minister Modi completely destroyed the motivated question on steps being taken to ‘protect’ rights of Muslims and other minorities. In his response he didn’t mention Muslims or any other denomination, spoke about Constitution, access to Govt resources based on eligibility and no discrimination based on caste, creed, religion or geography… After President Biden’s cold response to a similar question, this was another blow to the toolkit gang,” Malviya had tweeted.
Soon after, Pro Hindutva and pro BJP Twitter accounts went against Siddiqui, dubbing her a ‘Pakistani Islamist’ and raised conspiracy theories regarding her motivations behind the question. “She only targets India.” “Hate is in the DNA of Pakistanis (sic),” one such Twitter handle stated.
Pro-BJP websites such as OpIndia went even farther, reporting that she is the daughter of “Pakistani parents” and is “echoing the claims of Islamists.”
“For the uninitiated, the journalist who went on to pose the cleverly manufactured question echoing the claims of Islamists and left-liberals; alleging persecution of Muslims in India, was none other than Sabrina Siddique….is the daughter of Pakistani parents,” the OpIndia article read.
In response to internet accusations labelling her ‘anti-India,’ Siddiqui shared a photo of herself and her India-born father cheering on the Indian cricket team on her Twitter account.
“Since some have chosen to make a point of my personal background, it feels only right to provide a fuller picture. Sometimes identities are more complex than they seem,” she tweeted along with the pictures.
Responding to the abuse, Congress senior leader Digvijaya Singh asked PM Modi to find out the individuals who are trolling the journalist.
“Mr Prime Minister @PMO to prove what you promised in your press conference in US would you please find out who are trolling the Wall Street correspondent? Isn’t it your own private Troll Army? If it is so would you take action against them? I have serious doubts. @INCIndia,” he tweeted.
In another tweet, he appreciated Sidddiqui for doing a great job as a journalist. He also said that Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s ‘Hussain Obama’ remarks have already proved his leader PM Modi wrong regarding ‘discrimination against minorities’ in India.
Sabrina @SabrinaSiddiqui you need not worry, you don’t have to prove anything. You have done a great job as a Journalist. Full marks to you. BJP CM Assam has already proved his leader @narendramodi wrong. @PMO @INCIndia @BJP4India,” he tweeted.
Siddiqui also garnered the support of respected journalists who lauded her for posing the tough question to PM Modi.
