“Emmanuel Macron needs to talk about human rights in India”

“Emmanuel Macron needs to talk about human rights in India, he can’t not do it”said Thursday July 13, 2023 on franceinfo the documentary filmmaker Joy Banerjee, co-organizer of the rally which is being held this Thursday at Place d’Iéna, to protest against the arrival of Narendra Modi in Paris as guest of honor at the ceremonies of 14 -July.

According to documentary filmmaker, Narendra Modi “is not welcome in Paris because he is violating human rights in India. I came back from India two months ago and everyone there told me that the situation was quite painful, with a BGP [parti au pouvoir] which violates human rights”. It evokes “imprisonments of journalists, activists, closures of NGOs, in particular Amnesty International, which temporarily no longer has an office”.

An “unwelcome” symbol

The fact that the Indian president is guest of honor on the day of the French national holiday “is an unwelcome symbol, because July 14 is the celebration of freedoms, human rights” according to Joy Banerjee. In India, “minorities are hunted down, abused, there are deaths. There are pogroms against minorities, especially Muslims and Christians”he says.

“India is a Hindu nation – it’s called Hindutva – which defines minorities as second-class citizens. We cannot accept that in the so-called largest democracy in the world, 200 million Muslims are considered second-class citizens”, he pleads, referring in particular to what is currently happening in Kashmir, in Manipur. He reports a situation “unacceptable”with minorities “pursued by militias or violent activists”.

“If he is guest of honor, it is because France hopes to resell a certain number of Rafales to India, as in 2016. President Macron does not hear the people who are suffering, which matters to him it’s to sell planes, submarines, maybe EPRs”laments Joy Banerjee.