White House denounces journalist harassment over human rights questioning of Indian PM Modi.

The White House Condemns Online Harassment of Journalist Questioning Democracy in India

The White House has strongly condemned the online harassment faced by journalist Sabrina Siddiqui, who raised questions about the state of democracy in India during a press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Some of them are politicians, they have associations with the Modi government, and in particular, they have been targeting her because of her Muslim faith and questioning her own heritage,” one journalist said Monday. “Because this was supposed to be about democracy in some form, I wanted to find out what is the White House reaction to the fact that a journalist posing a question to a democratic leader is getting that kind of pushback?”

John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, swiftly denounced the abuse, stating, “We’re aware of the reports of harassment. It’s unacceptable, and we absolutely condemn any harassment of journalists anywhere under any circumstances. That’s just, that’s completely unacceptable. It’s antithetical to the very principles of democracy that, you’re right, were on display last week during the state visit.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre emphasized the Biden administration’s commitment to the freedom of the press.

The question was initially asked during a joint press conference between Modi and President Joe Biden. Modi responded with a statement affirming his support for democracy, stating, “As President Biden also mentioned, India and America, both countries, democracy is in our DNA. Democracy is in our spirit. Democracy runs in our veins. We live democracy.”

However, since then, Siddiqui has been subjected to Twitter harassment, with users targeting her based on her Muslim faith.

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