Former Vice-President Hamid Ansari and four US lawmakers target India at US event

Editorial

• In India, not Hindu nationalism, but Jihadi terrorism has been a matter of concern for the past 74 years. Why do Ansari or others not speak about the genocide of Hindus in Kashmir and their expulsion due to Jihadi terrorism ?

New Delhi – Former Vice-President Hamid Ansari and four US lawmakers have targeted India over the current human rights situation at a virtual panel discussion organised by the Indian American Muslim Council.

India has rejected criticism by foreign Governments and human rights groups on allegations that civil liberties have eroded in the country.

“In recent years, we have experienced the emergence of trends and practices that dispute the well-established principle of civic nationalism and interpose a new and imaginary practice of cultural nationalism … It wants to distinguish citizens on the basis of their faith, give vent to intolerance, insinuate otherness, and promote disquiet and insecurity”, Hamid Ansari alleged.

Former Vice-President Hamid Ansari, four US lawmakers express concern over human rights situation in India https://t.co/IIW1kiYZx1

— TOI India (@TOIIndiaNews) January 27, 2022

The three other Congressmen who spoke during the panel discussion – Jim McGovern, Andy Levin and Jamie Raskin – have traditionally taken anti-India stands irrespective of the Governments in power in New Delhi.

“There have been a lot of problems with the issue of religious authoritarianism and discrimination taking place in India”, Raskin said. “So we want to make sure that India stays on the path of respecting religious liberty, freedom, pluralism, toleration and dissent for everybody”, he added.

“Regrettably, today, the world’s largest Democracy is seeing backsliding, human rights under attack and religious nationalism. Since 2014, India has fallen from 27 to 53 on the Democracy Index. And Freedom House has downgraded India from free to partly free”, Levin said.