MEA sets record straight to ex-VP Ansari: 'India's democracy doesn't need certification'

"India is a robust and vibrant democracy. It does not require certification," the Government of India asserted on Friday, reacting to a US Congressional briefing on ‘Protecting India’s pluralist Constitution’ organised by a coalition of 17 US-based rights organisations. In the briefing, former Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari, along with four US lawmakers had expressed concern over the human rights situation in India. 

"We have seen reports on this event. India is a robust and vibrant democracy. It does not require certification from others," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, adding, "The claim that others need to protect our Constitution is presumptuous and preposterous." 

Addressing a media briefing, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "The track record of event organisers is as well known as the biases and political interests of the participants."

Notably, the Indian American Muslim Council, Amnesty International (US), Genocide Watch, and Hindus for Human Rights were among the 17 organisers of the event.

Concern over human rights in India? 

Participating in the virtual panel discussion from India, former vice president Ansari 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,” he alleged.

The three US Congressmen who spoke during the panel discussion- Jim McGovern, Andy Levin and Jamie Raskin- have traditionally taken anti-India stands irrespective of the governments in power in New Delhi.

“There have been a lot of problems with the issue of religious authoritarianism and discrimination taking place in India,” Raskin said. “So we want to make sure that India stays on the path of respecting religious liberty, freedom, pluralism, toleration and dissent for everybody,” he added.

“Regrettably, today, the world’s largest democracy is seeing backsliding, human rights under attack and religious nationalism. Since 2014, India has fallen from 27 to 53 on the Democracy Index and Freedom House has downgraded India from free to partly free,” Levin said.

McGovern, 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, according to a media release. 

(With inputs from PTI)