'Come and see what is happening in India...' Nirmala Sitharaman slams Western 'perceptions'
"I would tell the prospective investors to come & look at what's happening in India rather than listening to perceptions being built by people who've not visited the ground but writing reports," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
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FollowCome and look at what is happening in India rather than listening to perceptions being built by people who have not visited the ground but writing reports, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while taking part in a discussion at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC.
Asked about the reports in the Western media about reports of "Members of Opposition losing status and about Muslim minorities being subjected to violence", Sitharaman said: "Foreign investments have kept coming to India. I would tell the prospective investors to come & look at what's happening in India rather than listening to perceptions being built by people who've not visited the ground but writing reports."
"Those talking about perception should know that the Muslim population in India has not dwindled between 2014-23. It has been growing since independence and today we have the second-largest Muslim population in the world. Contrast that to Pakistan where religious minorities have been decimated," she added.
Sitharaman said violence prevails against Muhajirs, Shias and other minority groups in Pakistan, whereas, in India, every strand of the Muslim community is doing its business.
"India was divided into two Pakistans. Pakistan declared itself an Islamic country but said minorities will be protected. Every minority has been dwindling in number, or decimated in Pakistan. Even some of the Muslim sects have also been decimated, she said.
She said law and order is a state subject in India and each province has its elected government that takes care of the law and order in those states.
She said the notion that across the board in India, violence against Muslims is happening is a fallacy.
"It cannot be so. Each province and its police are different. They are run by the elected governments in those provinces. So, that itself tells you how these reports have no clue of the law and order systems in India, the finance minister said.
"To say it's all the blame of the government of India. I would like to say then, between 2014 and today, has the population dwindled, has the debts been disproportionately high in any one particular community," she said.
"I would rather invite these people who write these reports to come to India. I'll host them, let them come and travel alone to India and prove their point, Sitharaman said.
Around 62 per cent of the world's Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region (from Turkey to Indonesia), with over one billion adherents. The largest Muslim population in a country is in Indonesia, a country home to 12.7 per cent of the world's Muslims.
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