A senior Indian diplomat flatly denied allegations that the country was facing declining media freedom and erosion of minority rights during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Netherlands.
The exchange took place during a media briefing following delegation level tales between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Rob Jetter.
A Dutch journalist questioned why the prime ministers were not available for media questions and raised concerns regarding press freedom and the condition of minorities, including Muslims in the country.
Senior diplomat Sibi George responded by saying that such questions arise from a lack of understanding about India and its civilizational history.
“India is a country of 1.4 billion people… a civilisation more than 5,000 years old,” he said, “Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism — these religions originated in India and continued to flourish in India," he said.
He also added that major world religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam all arrived early to the country.
He also cited population figures: "When we became independent, the minority population in India was 11%. Now it is more than 20%. Name a country where the population of minorities has gone up."
He also called India a vibrant democracy and said that 900 million smartphone users in the country actively exercise their freedom of speech and expression.
"Everyone has the freedom of expression, freedom of the press in the country. And that makes our democracy a very noisy democracy. And we are proud of that," he said, as per news agency ANI.
George invited the journalist to visit India and see for himself how India lives and what vibrant democracy it has.
The clip of the exchange has now gone viral. Many social media users praised the diplomat for getting his claim and assertive response.
The remarks are coming amid India pushing back against international criticism on internal matter especially concerning religious minorities and press freedom .
India ranks very low on the World Press Freedom index, staying at around 151 among 180 countries.