No feeling of discrimination towards any religious minority in india modi

No feeling of discrimination towards any religious minority in india modi

Modi made no direct reference to the country’s Muslims when asked what future the 200 million-strong minority has in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said Indian society has no feeling of discrimination towards any religious minority while dismissing allegations against his government of cracking down on his critics.

‘There is a whole ecosystem that is using the freedom available in our country to hurl these allegations at us every day, through editorials, TV channels, social media, videos, tweets, etc,’ Modi told the Financial Times (FT) in what the British business daily described as a rare interview and additional written responses.

FT said Modi made no direct reference to the country’s Muslims when asked what future the 200 million-strong minority has in India. Modi instead pointed to the economic success of India’s Parsees, who he described as a ‘religious micro-minority residing in India’. ‘Despite facing persecution elsewhere in the world, they have found a safe haven in India, living happily and prospering,’ Modi said. ‘That shows that the Indian society itself has no feeling of discrimination towards any religious minority.’

FT noted that anti-Muslim hate speech has proliferated under the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has no Muslim ministers. It added critics have accused Modi’s government of cracking down on rivals, curtailing civil society, and discriminating against the country’s Muslim minority.

FT said a question about the Modi government’s alleged crackdown on his critics elicited a long and hearty laugh. Modi said his critics have the right to level allegations but others have an equal right to respond with facts.

He cited the long history of outsiders who underestimated India. ‘In 1947, when India became independent, the British who left made a lot of very dire predictions about India’s future. But we have seen that those predictions and preconceptions have all been proven false.’ He added those who similarly doubt his government will also be proven wrong.