Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a six day, five nation tour and he repeated the same long-standing practice of avoiding press interactions faced sharp resistance in Norway. During a joint press briefing in Oslo with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Prime Minister Modi attempted to depart without taking questions, but local journalist Helle Lyng confronted him directly and asked that why he hesitates to take questions from the freest press in the world?
Indian state representatives were further exposed when Lyng pursued the matter further at a subsequent Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) briefing, pointedly asking Indian officials about the human rights violations being carried away in India. Although Indian officials confronted the query by asserting the country’s democratic credentials and judicial remedies, yet this highlights the growing international scrutiny over India’s domestic human rights record.
Human rights organizations frequently point to the severity of systemic violations against minority communities in India. Amongst them, most of the violations are reported in Indian Occupied Kashmir, the world’s largest open-air prison. Following the revocation of its autonomous status, the state is being subjected to prolonged blackouts, heavy militarization, arbitrary detentions and severe restrictions on freedom of speech and movement.
Beyond the Muslims dominated state of Kashmir, targeted systemic abuses are reported in various Indian states. In Assam, the predominantly Bengali-origin Muslim Miya community faces ongoing disenfranchisement, xenophobic rhetoric and the constant threat of statelessness linked to citizenship under the draconian National register of Citizens (NRC).
Moreover, communal and ethnic violence has increased significantly across other parts of the country as well. Manipur is facing ethnic conflict characterized by large scale displacement, targeted killings and a breakdown of local governance. Furthermore, states such as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have suppressed minorities with recurring instances of communal violence; hate speech and demolition campaigns of properties belonging to minority communities. Similarly, the recent electoral victory of the BJP in West Bengal have also brought violence and hate speech targeting Muslims living in the state peacefully for decades.
The incident reported in Norway underscores that India’s internal human rights challenge continue to expose it at international forums, despite its efforts to project itself as a world’s largest and flawless democracy on the global stage.
