'Unacceptable': White House condemns 'harassment' of reporter who questioned PM Modi on minority rights

The White House has condemned as “totally unacceptable” what the Wall Street Journal has called the “intense online harassment” of its reporter Sabrina Siddiqui, who had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi a question on minority rights in India during his joint press conference with President Joe Biden in the US last week.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reporter Sabrina Siddiqui asked Prime Minister Modi about the rights of minorities in India and what steps his government was willing to take to improve them and also uphold free speech.

A day after the joint press conference, the reporter faced online abuse for questioning the Prime Minister, with some alleging that her question was “motivated” and calling her a “Pakistani Islamist”.

In response to a question, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said on Monday, “We’re aware of the reports of that harassment. It’s unacceptable. And we absolutely condemn any harassment of journalists anywhere under any circumstances. That’s completely unacceptable. And it’s antithetical to the very principles of democracy that were on display last week during the state visit.”

Here’s John Kirby’s full comments, in response to a question from @KellyO pic.twitter.com/gHsL5Y7u1E

— Andrew Restuccia (@AndrewRestuccia) June 26, 2023

PM Modi had strongly defended India’s record on democracy and his government’s performance and human rights when he was asked the question, saying that the basic foundation stone of his government has been ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas’, which means together for everyone’s growth, with everyone’s trust.

“India is a democracy. And as President Biden said democracy is in the DNA of both India and America. Democracy is in our spirit. Democracy flows in our veins. We live democracy. Our forefathers moulded it in words, which we call the Constitution,” he said.

“Our government runs on the fundamental principles of this Constitution. We have proved that democracy can deliver. When I say deliver it means there is no place for discrimination on the grounds of caste, creed, gender, religion, Modi said.

The question provoked sharp reactions in India.

“Prime Minister Modi completely destroyed the motivated question on steps being taken to ‘protect’ rights of Muslims and other minorities. In his response he didn’t mention Muslims or any other denomination, spoke about Constitution, access to Government resources based on eligibility and no discrimination based on caste, creed, religion or geography… After President Biden’s cold response to a similar question, this was another blow to the toolkit gang,” tweeted Amit Malviya, the head of BJP’s IT cell.

Prime Minister Modi completely destroyed the motivated question on steps being taken to ‘protect’ rights of Muslims and other minorities. In his response he didn’t mention Muslims or any other denomination, spoke about Constitution, access to Govt resources based on eligibility… pic.twitter.com/mPdXPMZaoI

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) June 22, 2023

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “We’re certainly here, at the White House, under this administration, committed to the freedom of the press, which is why we had the press conference last week.”

“We certainly condemn any efforts of intimidation or harassment of a journalist or any journalist that is just trying to do their job. And so, I just want to be very clear about that,” she said.

In response to a question on whether Prime Minister Modi and President Biden had discussions on issues such as press freedom and human rights, Jean-Pierre said President Biden will “never shy away” from having those conversations with a world leader or a head of state when it comes to human rights.

“He has done that throughout the past two years and through his career as a vice president and certainly as a senator. I’m not going to get into private conversations, but I think we have made ourselves very clear here on our view. And I’ll just leave it there,” she said.

Jean-Pierre said the US was committed to the freedom of the press, which is why the joint press conference was held.

“We thought it was important for you all to hear from both, not just from the President, but also from the Prime Minister, and for journalists to be able to ask a question,” she said.

Meanwhile, the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) expressed support for Siddiqui in the wake of the online abuse against her.

“We want to express our continued support of our colleague @SabrinaSiddiqui who, like many South Asian and female journalists, is experiencing harassment for simply doing her job. Press freedom is the hallmark of any democracy and PM Modi leads the world’s largest democracy,” SAJA said in a tweet.

We want to express our continued support of our colleague @SabrinaSiddiqui who, like many South Asian and female journalists, is experiencing harassment for simply doing her job. Press freedom is the hallmark of any democracy and PM Modi leads the world’s largest democracy. https://t.co/rbvKpk7vUo

— SAJA (@sajahq) June 24, 2023

A day after the joint press conference, Siddiqui took to Twitter and wrote, “Since some have chosen to make a point of my personal background, it feels only right to provide a fuller picture. Sometimes identities are more complex than they seem.”

Accompanying her tweet were two photographs in which she is wearing a blue jersey of the Indian cricket team, and an April 2011 picture with her father when India won the 2011 cricket World Cup.

With inputs from agencies

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