Biden its not about your freedom full#
Biden its not about your freedom free#

However, Modi didn’t specifically refer to the well-documented instances of violence and threats against minorities, or the issue of declining press freedom in India – as exemplified by the arrest of journalists in Kashmir and elsewhere, the changes in law affecting the freedom of digital news media or the curiously timed income tax raid on the BBC offices in Delhi after the British public broadcaster recently aired a documentary on his role during the 2002 riots.īiden sidesteps question on Modi’s rights record And when you talk of democracy, if there are no human values and there is no humanity, there are no human rights, then it’s not a democracy.” There’s absolutely no space for discrimination.

And when I say deliver, this is regardless of caste, creed, religion, gender. “We have always proved that democracy can deliver. India was a democracy so there could be no discrimination or violation of human rights, he said, as that would mean India was not a democracy. And on that basis, our constitution is made and the entire country runs on that - our constitution and government.” Democracy is in our spirit and we live it and it’s written in our Constitution… Our government has taken the basic principles of democracy. Stating that he was “surprised” by the query, Modi said, “As President Biden also mentioned, India and America both have democracy in our DNA.

Biden its not about your freedom free#

“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,” a reporter from the Wall Street Journal told Modi, adding, “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?”

Just like eight years ago, Modi had to again answer a question over his government’s treatment of Muslims. These were the first questions that Modi has answered in an open press conference since November 2015 in London. According to the Associated Press, Indian officials relented only the day before when the US side insisted that taking questions from the media was a standard part of White House state visits.

Modi and Biden addressed the media after their delegation level talks and then took questions from two reporters, one from the US and one from India, in a format the Indian side eventually agreed to after initially resisting the idea of Modi fielding any questions at all.

Biden its not about your freedom full#

Modi is on his sixth visit to the United States, but his first one with full diplomatic protocol of a state visit. With US President Joe Biden by his side, Modi spoke to reporters at the White House in a brief joint press conference – the first he has consented to be part of in eight years. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought refuge behind India’s democratic constitution and ‘DNA’ to dismiss the charge that his government discriminated against religious minorities and suppressed dissent, asserting that there is “no democracy without human rights” and that the “benefits” the government provides are available to all regardless of religion, caste, gender or region.