United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called upon India to protect and promote the rights of all individuals, including members of minority communities, and condemn hate speeches while delivering a lecture at the IIT-B on Wednesday.
Syed Khalique Ahmed
NEW DELHI—At a time when the human rights of minorities, particularly Muslims, are being rampantly violated and more specifically in BJP-ruled states, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called upon the Government of India “to protect and promote the rights of all individuals, including members of minority communities.” In the same vein, he asked the Indian government to condemn hate speeches that have become a new normal in India for quite some time.
He sermonized on the Indian government while delivering a speech at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay on Wednesday. He was on his first official visit to India from October 18 to 20 to “talk about the partnership between India and the United Nations and strengthening South-South Cooperation.”
Pointing out that India is an elected member of the Human Rights Council, he said, “India has a responsibility to shape global human rights and to protect and promote the rights of all individuals, including members of minority communities.”
In a missionary style, he preached that India could gain credibility at the global level only if it respected the human rights of all at home.
“India’s voice on the global stage can only gain in authority and credibility from a strong commitment to inclusivity and respect for human rights at home,” he admonished in a strong-worded lecture.
“The Indian model of plurality is based on a simple but profound understanding: diversity is a richness that makes your country stronger,” he told the audience, comprising IIT-B students, faculty members, intellectuals and academicians from different institutes in Mumbai.
Stating that “the Indian model of plurality” must be “nurtured, strengthened and renewed every day in this and every other society,” he suggested it could be achieved by “practicing the values of Gandhi and by upholding the rights and dignity of all people – especially the most vulnerable.” His remarks are a tight slap on the face of those who are indulging in mob lynching of Muslims, demolishing their religious places and homes, displacing Muslims from their native areas by use of violence and misuse of official machinery, denying justice to Muslim victims, disturbing communal harmony and peace by hate speeches day in and day out, advocating for a boycott of Muslims in all spheres of life and giving a call for Muslim genocide, with the Central and many state governments looking the other way.
Stating that understanding plurality “is the birth-right of every Indian,” he said that plurality could be strengthened only “by taking concrete action for inclusion, recognizing the enormous value and contributions of multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic societies” and by “condemning hate speech unequivocally.” It must be recalled here that several political leaders and so-called religious gurus from the majority community have been spitting fire against religious minorities, particularly Muslims, and have also given a call for the mass massacre of the Muslim community.
While the UN leader talked of inclusion in his speech, in India, efforts are being made by some non-official entities to assimilate Muslims and other minorities in the majority Hindu culture by dubbing Indians of all faiths as Hindus. Muslims and other minorities have protested the bid because the word Hindu has a religious connotation, and accepting oneself as a Hindu can mean giving up one’s distinct cultural identity based on religion. Recently, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, in his Dussehra speech, spoke against concentration of minority populations in any area, saying that such demographic imbalances have resulted in creation of new countries like East Timor out of Indonesia, South Sudan out of Sudan and Kosovo out of Serbia in the heart of Europe. Such a mindset works against the cultural and economic growth and development of minorities. Such a thinking is also against inclusive and pluralistic society.
As the country’s human rights records have invited strong criticism from several UN authorities and many foreign human rights bodies, particularly about the arrest of human rights defender Teesta Setalvad, journalist Siddique Kappan, former JNU researcher Umar Khalid, and tribal rights activist the late Father Stan Swamy, Guterres advised the government “to protect rights and freedom of journalists, human rights activists, students and academics.” Simultaneously, he also called for “ensuring the continued independence of India’s judiciary.”
He also asked Indians “to be vigilant and to increase your investments in an inclusive, pluralistic, diverse community and society.”
Speaking about gender rights, he advocated for equal rights to be given to women and men, girls and boys not only in India but all across the world to enable society to reach its full potential.
Earlier, he visited the museum for the victims of the 26/11 terror attack. He said that fighting terrorism should be a global priority for every country.
