S Jaishankar, Foreign Minister
Geneva: Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar is known for his quick wit. When asked about the personal meetings of some opposition leaders of India with diplomats of other countries in Geneva on Friday, he said that we have no problem with other countries commenting on Indian politics, but they (other countries) should also be ready to listen to our comments on their politics. He made this sharp remark during an interaction with the Indian community in Geneva.
Let us tell you that Jaishankar was asked a question by some foreign diplomats based in New Delhi about his personal meetings with some opposition leaders (Asaduddin Owaisi and former Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah) in his own country. The Foreign Minister did not give a direct answer to this and said, “I have no problem if people comment about our politics, but I think in all fairness that they should also be ready to hear my comments about their politics.” Referring to the famous writer George Orwell’s work ‘Animal Farm’, he said, “Some people are more equal than others. How can you really make it so?” Jaishankar is in Switzerland on the last leg of his three-nation visit. Earlier, he visited Germany and Saudi Arabia.
This answer was given on the issue of women’s safety
Jaishankar acknowledged that women’s safety is an issue in India. “I don’t think there can be a single person in the country who is not outraged by what happened,” he said, in an apparent reference to the rape and murder incident at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital last month. He said women’s safety and crime against women is an issue in India, but it can be an issue in other countries as well. He also recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort in which he said Indians teach or say something to their daughters if they go out late at night, but “do you do this to your sons?”
Said this on human rights
About the alleged criticism of India at international forums on human rights, he said India has “allowed, encouraged, facilitated, accepted and continued to support diversity” of people with diversity. “You have actually suppressed or distorted or undervalued a lot of diversity, differences of opinion and pluralism in your society,” he said. He said the discourse of those societies (Western countries) will inevitably be different from India, because they “don’t have this kind of diversity and they never valued it.” Jaishankar honoured Indian reformer and educator Hansa Mehta by naming a hall in her memory at the country’s permanent mission here.
He paid floral tribute to the statue of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, at the campus. Earlier, he began the day by planting a sapling at the premises of India’s Office at the United Nations. He also dedicated the new building that houses India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, WTO and CD. The building also houses India’s Consulate in Geneva. (Language)
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