Last week, the Wall Street Journal’s Sabrina Siddiqui faced trolling after she asked Narendra Modi about discrimination against minorities in India.
The White House on Monday said the online harassment of journalist Sabrina Siddiqui, who asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi a question at a press conference last week, was completely unacceptable.
On June 23, Modi had taken questions at a rare press conference with United States President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington. The Wall Street Journal reporter had pointed out in her question that several human rights groups have accused the Modi government of discriminating against religious minorities and taking action to silence its critics.
In response, Modi had defended the secular roots of Indian democracy. “There is absolutely no space for discrimination…And when you talk of democracy, if there are no human values and there is no humanity, there are no human rights, then it’s not a democracy,” he said.
The press conference was followed by a wave of trolling of Siddiqui as Hindutva supporters and members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party attacked her as “the daughter of Pakistani parents” and for “echoing the claims of Islamists”. The attacks had forced Siddiqui to clarify that she cheered for the Indian cricket team along with her father.
On Monday, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby was asked at a press conference for a comment on Siddiqui receiving such pushback after posing a question to a democratic leader.
“We’re aware of the reports of that harassment,” Kirby said. “It’s unacceptable. And we absolutely condemn any harassment of journalists anywhere under any circumstances. That’s…completely unacceptable. And it’s antithetical to the very principles of democracy that…were on display last week during the state visit.”…
After the truth-shower 