US Panel Report is Biased, Baseless and Motivated: Don't Insult India
US Panel Report Biased, Baseless and Motivated:
Don’t Insult India
By Sudesh Verma
If Foreign countries and institutions start
preparing reports on India based on observations or perceptions or statements
by some Indian leaders, such reports are bound to be questioned on facts and
intentions. Indictment of India only when it involves members of Muslim
community forces one to question if such reports are meant to mollify the
Muslim community that has charged the West of suffering from Islamophobia.
On 28 April 2020, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended that India should be placed on Religious Freedom Blacklist. The Indian government has rejected the report as “biased and new level of misrepresentation”.
Muslims and Hindus are one |
Actually the report has brought Pakistan, India,
China and North Korea on one platform. Not that the report would mean anything
significant for the US administration, but it depicts the bias of the Left
liberals in the US and other countries of the West and Europe. I will try to
analyse this bias and look for the reasons. India is bound to feel hurt since
its vibrant democracy has been compared to countries where democracy does not
exist. The largest democracy in the world governed by written constitution should be treated with some respects.
Islamophobia in US |
The commission said that Modi’s ‘Hindu nationalist
government’, which won a convincing election victory last year, “allowed
violence against minorities and their houses of worship to continue with
impunity, and also engaged in and tolerated hate speech and incitement to
violence”. It spoke about revocation of Article 370 in only Muslim majority
state and allegations that Delhi police turned a blind eye to mobs who attacked
Muslim neighborhoods in February this year.
Islamophobia in US |
Those who are aware of the Indian realities know
that it is fighting against fundamentalist forces using democratic means. This
country has a vibrant media, independent judiciary and a vociferous opposition.
This is a country where every citizen vows by the constitution and nothing is
done or can be done that would undermine the spirit of the constitution. If
institutions are running as per mandate, how can one accuse these institutions
of violating human rights or perpetrating discrimination?
Why then such a damning indictment? There is
definitely more to it than that meets the eye.
Islamophobia in US: Why prevent refugees battling life |
One must recall that this report
has come after irresponsible statement by Arundhati Roy who compared the
democratically elected government with the Nazis and said that the Muslims were
being discriminated against (18 April 2020). A day after, the Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation (OIC) criticized the Indian government saying there was
Islamophobia in India.
“[We] urge the Indian Government to take urgent steps to stop the growing
tide of Islamophobia in India and protect the rights of its persecuted Muslim
minority as per its obligations under International Human Rights law,” said a
tweet issued by the OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (19
April).
One hundred and one former
civil servants of India wrote an open letter to all the Chief Minister and
Lieutenant Governors alleging harassment of Muslims while dealing with COVID-19
spread (23 April). United under the banner of Constitutional Conduct Group
(CCG), these officers from All India Services have complained that the Muslim
community has been facing hostility ever since the news of the Tablighi Jamaat
congregation spread across India. It included prominent Muslims including Wajahat
Habibullah, Siraj Hussain, Najeeb Jung, Harsh Mandar and others.
Poster lady of the west: She revels in India baiting. |
A careful look at the
dates when the statements were made would make anyone understand that there is
someone working from behind and trying to defame India. Of course the Western
world and Europe are not comfortable with India rising story. They keep
painting India in the negative and describe Kashmir as one of the hot spots of
conflict. Indian government has tried to resolve that without any help from the
West. The Islamists, the Leftists and anti-India forces that had calculated
that the entire world would come to support them had eggs on their faces. They
have been peddling lies to the western world that the Unity called India is
artificial and that India is a nation of nationalities.
These forces tried their
best to prevent Mr Narendra Modi from coming to power at the Centre. The same
sets of people who wrote a letter to then US President Barack Obama in July
2013 asking him to deny Visa to Mr Narendra Modi when he was the chief minister
of Gujarat. The idea was to defame Modi and prevent his rise.
It is not a rant. I have
worked with the British High Commission in Delhi and I am aware of the tools
foreign governments employ to have their say in Indian affairs. The NGOs funded
by them, giving international awards to certain category of people and using
them later to further their ends have been old techniques that were prevalent
earlier. Under the new regime it does not work. Most of the fictitious NGOs
have either been closed or their funds have stopped due to their failure on the
accountability fronts. The panel’s call to fund these NGOs reflect their
desperation.
I recall an interesting
anecdote. I had gone to London on an official visit to the Foreign Commonwealth
Office. Amnesty International and other such organisations have mastered the
tool of influencing the government and shaping their policies. The British
government takes care of them because of their nuisance value. A complaint was
forwarded to me and I was asked to give a response. There was an alleged attack
on a Church in Rajasthan under the regime of BJP’s Vasundhara Raje. The Church
organisation had sent complaint through Amnesty International. I did some
internet search there at the FCO and came across a photograph that showed the
archbishop meeting the chief minister just two days after the date of the alleged attack. I made my own inquiry and found that nothing like that had happened. I
told them that the Archbishop had expressed happiness with the chief minister
and had made no such complaint to her. Many such stories land at India desk of
these countries in order to create an anti-India narrative.
Image of Delhi riots ignored by Western media |
It is quite possible that the US narrative is outcome of combined effort of anti-India forces. The Western media bias was visible when the Washington Times and others reported negatively on Delhi riots. Some of the facts that appeared in these media were challenged. They were determined to convert the riots into a pogrom. If we need to understand these we will have to understand the background of the writers who are setting the narrative. Most foreign correspondents based in India collate their information so that the narrative is the same.
Criticism of Markaj for spreading COVID-19 is not criticism of the Muslims Community |
They can’t be blamed
because their stories would sell back at home only if it is negative. They think
that India is a country of snake and ladders. They want to see poverty,
conflict, violence, rape and inequality. The India rising story cannot sell.
Also, somewhere down the line they are suffering from a complex because the
entire West and Europe is gripped by Islamophobia. They try to show India in
bad light to sound soothing to Muslims here and also back home. Prominent Islamists and liberals also get jobs at media and research organisations. And their biased narrative about India is accepted as the truth.
Ends
Written on 2 May 2020
It was great information and very useful.
ReplyDeleteVisit Marriage Problem Astrologer in Basavanagudi
Thank you for sharing very useful & informative article.
ReplyDeleteFor best services contact us Best Housekeeping Services in Bangalore