‘Lack of understanding’: MEA rejects Dutch PM’s remarks on media freedom, minority rights in India

India on Sunday (May 17) rejected the reported comments made by Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten on media freedom and minority rights in the country. In a firm rebuttal, New Delhi said that such concerns arise from “lack of understanding” about India’s history, cultural diversity and democracy. This comes during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Netherlands, where the Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West) Sibi George addressed questions raised by reporters during a media conference.

“We face these kinds of questions basically because of the lack of understanding of the person who asks the question,” George said at the Hague.

“India is a country of 1.4 billion people, the largest populated country in the world. A country of civilisation of more than 5000 years old. It’s a diverse country – diversity in terms of culture, diversity in terms of languages, diversity in terms of food, diversity in terms of religion,” he said.

Describing India’s electoral process as evidence of the country’s democratic strength, he said, “Recently, we had elections. You need to know what the level of participation was. More than 90 per cent of the electorate voted. This is the beauty of India.”

Calling India a “vibrant democracy”, George said that the country has progressed economically to eliminate poverty without compromising on democratic principles. “We did not go for violence to eliminate poverty. We went through the democratic process to eliminate poverty,” he said.

“We are one-sixth of the total population of the world but not one-sixth of the problems of the world. This is the beauty of India which makes us proud. Every minority thrives,” he added. “When we became independent, the minority population in India was 11 per cent. Now it is more than 20 per cent. Name a country where the population of minorities has gone up.”