PM Modi was responding to a question from Wall Street Journal reporter Sabrina Siddiqui at the White House alongside President Joe Biden.
PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, June 22, said, "Democracy is in our DNA, democracy is our spirit, democracy runs in our veins," and there is "no space" in India for any kind of discrimination. He was responding to a question on his government's handling of religious minorities and dissent from a reporter at the White House alongside President Joe Biden. Modi claimed that the benefits of government schemes were available to everyone in India. He did not delve into the question of press freedom or human rights violations reported over the last few years in the country. The question was asked by Wall Street Journal's Sabrina Siddiqui. Both Modi and Biden took questions from one American and one Indian reporter each. It is to be noted that this is the first time Modi has taken questions from journalists since he came to power in 2019. The WSJ journalist invited Modi’s attention to the fact that activists point to human rights violations in India against minorities and the silencing of critics. “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?” she asked. “I am surprised that you are attributing this comment to others. India and the US both have democracy in their DNA. It is in our blood and veins. Our founders put it in our Constitution. If you accept we are a democracy, then there is no question of discrimination," PM Modi said. Modi was picking up from President Biden's remarks earlier at the briefing about democracy being in the DNA of both the US and India. He added, "We have always proved that democracy can deliver, and when I say deliver, this is regardless of caste, greed, religion, and gender. There is absolutely no space for discrimination." The Prime Minister added, "When we live in a democracy, there is absolutely no space for discrimination. And that is why India believes in moving ahead with everybody, with trust, and with everybody's efforts. These are our foundations, principles, which are the basis of how we operate, how we live our lives in India." President Biden also found himself on the defensive when asked about criticism of his administration for overlooking targeting of religious minorities and crackdown on dissent in India. Biden said he and the Prime Minister "had a good discussion about democratic values" and "that's the nature of our relationship. We're straightforward with each other and we respect each other." Biden went on to say that the US-China relationship is "not in the same space" as the US-India relationship because "there is an overwhelming respect for each other as we are both democracies. It is in America's DNA and I believe in India's DNA". They were joined by India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra, Indian Ambassador to US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, among others. #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ Sign up to get Daily Wrap in your inbox * indicates required Email Address * First Name (function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]='EMAIL';ftypes[0]='email';fnames[1]='FNAME';ftypes[1]='text';fnames[2]='LNAME';ftypes[2]='text';}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true);
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