New Delhi: The Indian government came out with a clarification saying it had “no role” in the press briefing of the Afghanistan foreign minister, after facing a barrage of criticism over exclusion of women journalists from Friday’s event.
Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Manoj Kumar Jha, came out in support of the women journalists, who slammed both the Modi government and their male colleagues for “submitting their spine”.
The above-mentioned press conference was held Friday in the Afghanistan Embassy, where only a handful of reporters attended the briefing addressed by visiting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the invitations were sent to select journalists by the Afghanistan’s Consul General in Mumbai, stationed in New Delhi for Muttaqi’s ongoing week-long visit. The Afghan Embassy’s territory, it said, does not come under the jurisdiction of the Indian government.
Over the years, the Taliban has faced backlash for restricting rights of women in Afghanistan. Most recently, it banned books and poetry written by women authors.
ThePrint reported Friday that when asked about women being put under heavy restrictions, Muttaqi rubbished it away saying that it was all part of a “propaganda”.
“Under the Taliban, things have gotten better. Before August 15,2021, there were at least 200-400 deaths every day. Today that has stopped. Have you seen any protests taking place by the people? No. People are happy,” he said.
The Afghan foreign minister arrived Thursday in India, as part of efforts to reset the ties between Kabul and New Delhi. The pictures of the press conference with no female journalists was widely shared on the internet, leading to a raft of voices against this ‘ban’ at the event.
“Stunned. Not only did we get the Taliban on Indian soil, we allowed them to get their way with Indian women on Indian soil when we made a decision to make women journalists vanish from their press conference,” senior journalist and author Saba Naqvi wrote on ‘X’
Another journalist Rituparna Chatterjee asserted that the right thing would be to walk out en masse from a press event where women allegedly weren’t allowed to take part to appease the Taliban. “Instead male journalists submitted their spine at the door and attended it. How will women ever be safe in India? Men are not allies.”
Senior journalist Suhasini Haider said that what is more ridiculous is how the Taliban was allowed to bring their “abhorrent and illegal discrimination” against women to India, as the government hosted the Taliban delegation with full official protocol. “This isn’t pragmatism, this is supplication,” she wrote on ‘X’.
Calling out the Taliban government decision, journalist Yogita Lamba said that the decision to keep women journalists out is embarrassing for the Indian government, especially as to how “a violation of the fundamental principles of the constitution was allowed”.
In a separate event, Muttaqi reached a think tank where women officers and academics were seen having tea after a session. National security specialist Tara Kartha posted a photo along with a note on ‘X’ from that event.
“RT’ing this with the right title. Tea with Acting FM #Muttaqi (not at the Serena Hotel!!!) but in Delhi surrounded by well wishers and friends of Afghanistan. Muttaqi has a great sense of humour and probably more relaxed here after #KabulAirStrike . Hope they will change its policies on women soon. I offer to teach at a girls school myself !! (sic),” she posted.
Also Read: A look at India’s evolving engagement with Taliban over the years
‘Clarify your position’
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify his position on removal of women journalists from a press conference of Muttaqi. She was joined by her brother and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who also launched a scathing attack on the PM.
Terming the incident as an ‘insult to some of India’s most competent women’, the Wayanad MP questioned how this was allowed. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, please clarify your position on the removal of female journalists from the press conference of the representative of the Taliban on his visit to India,” Priyanka Gandhi posted on X.
“If your recognition of women’s rights isn’t just convenient posturing from one election to the other, then how has this insult to some of India’s most competent women been allowed in our country, a country whose women are its backbone and its pride,” she further asked.
Muttaqi, meanwhile, is set to visit the Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh Saturday. Women are not allowed entry there, too.
“Mr. Modi, when you allow the exclusion of women journalists from a public forum, you are telling every woman in India that you are too weak to stand up for them,” Rahul posted on ‘X’.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said that in India, women have the right to equal participation in every space. “Your silence in the face of such discrimination exposes the emptiness of your slogans on Nari Shakti.”
Former finance minister P.Chidambaram wrote that he was shocked by the exclusion of women journalists from the press conference and said that men journalists should have “walked out” on finding out that “their women colleagues were excluded (or not invited).”
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra wrote that the government has dishonoured Indian women by allowing the Taliban minister to exclude women journalists.
Calling the incident “horrendous” in a video posted on ‘X’, Moitra said, “The Indian foreign ministry has laid out a red carpet for this man… who has had the gumption to ask for women to be removed from a room where he is having a press conference and we are giving this delegation official status and providing the protocol.”
Moitra also questioned the male journalists present at the press conference who did not “utter a word of protest.” She asked: “Are you emasculated? Are you spineless?”
As more reactions poured in, Member of Parliament (MP) Manoj Kumar Jha wrote on ‘X’ that by not allowing women journalists to attend the press conference of the Taliban Foreign Minister, India has compromised its own moral and diplomatic standing.
He called it not just a “procedural lapse” but a “symbolic surrender of India’s long-cherished commitment to equality, freedom of the press, and gender justice.”
“For a country that has prided itself on being the world’s largest democracy and a champion of women’s participation in every sphere, this incident is deeply disappointing and politically short-sighted. It sends out the wrong message to Indian women and the global community that convenience has triumphed over conviction,” the Rajya Sabha MP wrote.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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