On Sunday, in New Delhi, Joe Biden, the president of the US said that he spoke with Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, regarding the respect for human rights and press freedom hours after the G20 Summit had ended. Mr. Biden had commented on this matter in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, on the same evening.
In order to build and develop the collaboration between the two countries, the President of the United States said that he and the Prime Minister of India had substantial conversations. ” I’ve put up a major matter of respect for Human Rights and the crucial role that Civil Society and the media have to play in improving a robust and prosperous society with Prime Minister Modi”, he added.
The President illustrated the India & Middle East Europe Economic Corridor, which he called an ingenious new collaboration that would open up incorrigible prospects for enormous transformative business outlay along this corridor.
A Memorandum of Understanding on this corridor was signed on September 9th by India, United States of America, European Union, Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany and Italy. As a part of the partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment they signed this project which includes the cooperation of G7 countries for the finance infrastructure in countries which are developing.The collaboration is seen as a counter to the China led Belt and Road Initiative.
A rail link which connects the transportation of goods and services between India, Jordan, Israel, Europe, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will be included in this corridor. When the U.S President had a visit to New Delhi, the white House stated on September 7th that India had refused its request for development of media access. It also said that the same would be discussed at Vietnam’s Press Conference.
Karen Jean Pierre, the press secretary of the White House said that it was even more convenient to hold the briefing in Vietnam. She also stated that when the G20 summit happens, it is known that it is all consuming and the hands are on deck, so it would be logistically convenient for her at Hanoi.
On Monday, Jairam Ramesh, the Congress General Secretary said that criticizing Modi for the denial of the press conference will have no effect on the American President Joe Biden. He wrote in a tweet saying that Mr. Biden has discussed the same thing in Vietnam, in which he spoke to Modi’s face about the respect of Human Rights and the role of Society and press freedom. But the recent conversations between Modi and Biden were regarding the same issue.
Modi had addressed the questions raised about the discrimination of minority communities in India on June 23rd at an infrequent conference at the White House in Washington. The Indian Prime Minister spoke about the country’s Democracy and Secularism when such a question was raised and stated that democracy is nothing when human values are not practiced.
Following this press conference, a question was raised on Hindutva activists and members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party who had attacked The Wall Street Journal writer Sabrina Siddiqui, calling her “the daughter of Pakistani parents” and accused her of “echoing the claims of Islamists.”
