THE India she is not xenophobic, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said, responding to a comment by the US president Joe Bidenaccording to which the Asian country is facing economic problems because it refuses to accept immigrants.
“In principle, our economy is not in difficulty,” Mr Jaishankar told reporters last Friday (his remarks were published in the Indian press on Saturday).
Besides, “India is truly a unique country. I would even say that, in fact, in world history, it is a society that has always been very open … different people, from different societies, come to India,” he continued, according to a report in the Economic Times newspaper.
India is among the countries with the fastest growing economy in the world: it expanded at a rate of 8.4% in the last quarter of 2023, according to official statistics.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist, Hindu government has been accused of discriminating against Muslims, particularly over a new citizenship law that critics say could lead to Muslims being stripped of their citizenship.
“There are people who say that a million Muslims will lose their citizenship. And why isn’t anyone calling them to account? Because no one lost their citizenship,” Mr. Jaishankar further said.
During a campaign event — with no cameras, no media microphones — on Wednesday, Mr. Biden appeared to lump his country’s allies (Japan, India) and rivals (China, Russia) together, arguing that all four these large economies face difficulties because of the refusal of their political leaders to accept immigrants.
“Why is China facing so much economic stagnation? Why is Japan in trouble? And Russia? And India? Because they are xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants,” said the US president.
Fire from Japan too
Japan reacted strongly yesterday, calling Mr Biden’s comments “regrettable” and wrong.
After assuming the US presidency, Joe Biden is trying to strengthen relations with America’s allies in Asia, especially with Tokyo and New Delhi.
He thus hosted official dinners in Washington, a sign of special and rare diplomatic favor, for the Prime Ministers of India and Japan, respectively Narendra Modi and Fumio Kishida.
The White House was quick to try to tone down Mr Biden’s remarks.
With his statement, he simply wanted to emphasize “that the United States is a country of immigrants,” said the spokesman for the National Security Council of the American presidency, John Kirby.
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