Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on 13th April (Wednesday) responded to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remark monitoring ‘rise in human rights abuse in India’.
During the joint statement after the 2+2 ministerial dialogue between the top counterparts of the US and India. Monday, Blinken had said the United States is ‘monitoring the rise in human rights abuse in India’.
He specifically stated that the US is concerned about the so-called rise in “human rights abuses” and alleged that such incidents are being carried out by government, police and prison officials, for which he had no evidence to support such claims.
During the hour, Jaishankar didn’t respond to these claims but on Wednesday, during a press brief, he said that India too is concerned about the Human Rights situation in the US’.
He further said, “Look, people are entitled to have views about us. But we are also equally entitled to have views about their views and about the interests, and the lobbies and the vote banks which drive that. So, whenever there is a discussion, I can tell you that we will not be reticent about speaking out.”. “And in fact, we had a case yesterday…that’s really where we stand on that,” he added.
Jaishankar’s reaction came a day after two Sikh men were attacked in the New York’s vat. of Queens on Tuesday. A few days ago, reports had emerged that another Sikh man was assaulted in the same neighbourhood.
According to current estimates more than 500,000 Sikhs are estimated to be living in the US as the community makes up the world’s fifth-largest religious community.
If we talk about the Indian community as a whole, there is a rise in incidents of hate crimes against the Indian community in the US. As per NY State Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, the first Punjabi American ever elected to the New York State Office, the incidents have increased by “200% in recent years”
