In a rebuttal to US President Joe Biden’s recent remarks, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar has said that India is not xenophobic and is instead a very open and welcoming nation.
Speaking to The Economic Times, Jaishankar also refuted the allegation that the Indian economy is stalling.
In his defence of India, Jaishankar also invoked the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and hailed it as a move that helps people who need to come to India. He said that India is open to people who have a need and a claim to come to India.
Earlier this week, Biden at an event had clubbed India with Japan, China, and Russia, and said that these countries are “xenophobic”.
“Why? Because we welcome immigrants. Think about it. Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble. Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants,” said Biden.
‘India has been a very unique country’
Jaishankar said that India has been a very unique country where people from different parts of the world have come over time.
“India is always…India has been a very unique country…I would say actually, in the history of the world, that it’s been a society which has been very open… different people from different societies come to India,” said Jaishankar, as per ET.
Jaishankar also said that that the Narendra Modi government’s legislations also facilitate such movement.
He said, “That’s why we have the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), which is to open up doors for people who are in trouble… I think we should be open to people who have the need to come to India, who have a claim to come to India.”
Jaishankar further went on to defend the CAA, which came under national and international criticism at the time of its enactment, and said that no Muslim has lost his citizenship as some were saying.
“There are people who publicly said on record that because of CAA, a million Muslims will lose their citizenship in this country,” he said. “Why are they not being held to account? Because nobody has lost citizenship,” said Jaishankar.
Jaishankar on US campus protests & Western media
Jaishankar also spoke on the ongoing anti-Israel protests in American university campuses and the coverage of India by Western media. He said that a section of Western media is “very ideological” that wants to control the global narrative.
Jaishankar said that sections of media have their political preference in India and that goes behind the nature of their content. He termed reports such as the various indices as political hitjobs and politics by other means.
“They have made in many cases no secret of their political passion. They have indicated open preference for other political parties in India. They have waded into specific issues, taking up positions. If they give comments and judgements, you want to take it recognising where it is coming from. I mean, these are not objective judgements. These are people who very openly declared that they have a stake in what is happening. They believe they have a role in what is happening,” said Jaishankar, as per ET.
Referring to the US campus protests, Jaishankar further said that there is a difference between what people in the West preach and practice.
In response to a question on reports of Indian hands in targeted killings of terrorists in Pakistan, Jaishankar said that “things will happen” to terrorists as they are in such large numbers in Pakistan.
“Terrorists are there in large numbers. Statistically, where they will be in large numbers, things will happen to them. Now they have created an industry which is the terrorist’s industry… things could happen there,” said Jaishankar.
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‘India not xenophobic, but very open & welcoming’: Jaishankar rebuts Biden’s comments on India
