In a swipe at the previous instances of Western criticism of India regarding protests, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar has said that one should look at pictures from American campuses on their television screens.
Jaishankar was referring to police crackdowns on anti-Israel protesters in American campuses in recent days. After a wave of anti-Israel protests took over several American campuses, police were deployed at some campuses to evict the protesters. On a number of occasions, police personnel were criticised for their heavy-handedness as visuals of protesters clashing with the police surfaced.
In India, such visuals have been shared widely to draw a contrast between what the West preaches and practices.
“There are people who said you must not do anything to disturb demonstrations even if it inconveniences the public, blocks roads. How are they handling it when it comes to their own?” said Jaishankar in an interview with The Economic Times.
Jaishankar further said, “We got a lot of lectures about how to deal with public every time there’s an agitation in India. I invite you to see the television pictures today on the screen. What they preach, what they practice, what is their agenda, what is their objectivity, or lack of it?”
‘These are political hitjobs’
When asked about foreign interference in Indian elections, Jaishankar said that “there are self-proclaimed people with different interests”.
Mentioning the criticism of India in Western quarters on issues like press freedom and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Jaishankar asked why these people are not being held to account. He termed such criticism as “political hitjobs”.
“There are people who publicly said millions of Muslims will lose their citizenship because of CAA. Why are they not being held to account? Nobody has lost citizenship. As members of the Indian press, you all will be happy to know your rank (in the recently released Press Freedom Index by RSF). I think the number is 159. I mean these are political hitjobs. Let’s stop pretending. I’m not implying or hinting something. I am calling it out,” said Jaishankar.
‘Democracies should display understanding regarding fellow democracies’
After police action began against protesters in US campuses, the Ministry of External Affairs said that “democracies should display this understanding in regard to other fellow democracies”.
The statement was seen as a dig at statements that Western commentators have previously made regarding protests at India. At a media briefing, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal further called for a balance between freedom of expression and the responsibility to maintain law and order.
He further said, “After all, we are all judged by what we do at home and not what we say abroad. And as far as your question regarding Indian students is concerned, we are always in touch with Indian students. And as and when there are issues which have to be resolved, we’ll look into it.”
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