New Delhi: The White House has strongly condemned the harassment of the Wall Street Journal journalist Sabrina Siddiqui who questioned Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about human rights, democracy and free speech during a rare press conference at the White House last week. Shortly after, the journalist was subject to online abuse and harassment, according to news agencies.
John Kirby, the US National Security Council’s lead for strategic communication, said that the White House was aware of the reports of harassment directed at Siddique and made a statement strongly condemning the attacks at a White House press briefing on Monday, June 26.
This is what Siddiqui asked PM Modi:
“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. As you stand here in the East Room of the White House, where so many world leaders have made commitments to protecting democracy, 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?”
Modi, who rarely takes questions from reporters or does press conferences, expressed his surprise at the reporter’s question. He answered in Hindi through a translator:
“Democracy is our spirit. Democracy runs in our veins. We live democracy…our government has taken the basic principles of democracy. We have always proved that democracy can deliver. And when I say deliver, this is regardless of caste, creed, religion, gender, age or any kind of geographic location. There is absolutely no space for discrimination.”
