Former VP Hamid Ansari Joins US Lawmakers To Express Concerns Over Human Rights In India

Four US lawmakers, including a senator, joined by former Vice President of India Hamid Ansari, expressed concerns on Wednesday over the current human rights situation in India.

Former Vice President of India Hamid Ansari (left); Representative image of Human Rights posters (right) | Photos: Getty Images

New Delhi: Four US lawmakers, including a senator, joined by former Vice President of India Hamid Ansari, expressed concerns on Wednesday over the current human rights situation in India, news agency PTI reported. 

The allegations have been denied by the Indian government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the report said. 

Quoting Democratic Senator Ed Markey, the report said that as the Indian government continues to target the practices of minority faiths, it creates an atmosphere where discrimination and violence can take root. “In recent years, we have seen an uptick in online hate speeches and acts of hate, including vandalised mosques, torched churches, and communal violence," the senator further said.

The senator was speaking at a panel discussion organised by the Indian American Muslim Council.

Senator Markey has a history of taking anti-India stands, including opposing the India-US civil nuclear deal during the Manmohan Singh regime, the report said.

Former Vice President of India Ansari participated in the virtual panel discussion from India, and expressed his concern over the rising trend of Hindu nationalism.

"In recent years, we have experienced the emergence of trends and practices that dispute the well-established principle of civic nationalism and interpose a new and imaginary practice of cultural nationalism.... It wants to distinguish citizens on the basis of their faith, give vent to intolerance, insinuate otherness, and promote disquiet and insecurity," the PTI report quoted Ansari as saying. 

Jim McGovern, Andy Levin and Jamie Raskin were the three other Congressmen who spoke during the panel discussion.

Irrespective of the governments in power in New Delhi, they have traditionally taken anti-India stands, the report said.

Quoting Raskin, the report said that there have been a lot of problems with the issue of religious authoritarianism and discrimination taking place in India.

“So we want to make sure that India stays on the path of respecting religious liberty, freedom, pluralism, toleration and dissent for everybody," Raskin added.

Levin said that regrettably, today, the world's largest democracy is seeing backsliding, human rights under attack and religious nationalism. He added that India has fallen from 27 to 53 on the Democracy Index since 2014.

He said that Freedom House has downgraded India from free to partly free, according to the report. 

According to a media release issued by the Indian American Muslim Council, McGovern, who is co-chair of the powerful Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the US House of Representatives, listed several warning signs that showed India's "alarming backsliding" on human rights.