Jagdeep Dhankhar questions global silence on human rights violations against Hindus in neighbourhood

Highlighting human rights violations against Hindus in India’s neighbourhood, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday questioned the global silence on the issue and said being “too tolerant” against such transgressions was not appropriate.

Addressing the foundation day celebrations of the National Human Rights Commission here, Dhankhar said the “so-called moral preachers, custodians of human rights” stood exposed.

“They are mercenaries of something which is totally antithetical to human rights,” he said, adding, “We are too tolerant” and being too tolerant to such transgressions was not appropriate.

“Think if you were one of those…Look at the kind of barbarity, torture, traumatised experience of boys, girls, and women,” he said, adding look at our religious places being subjected to sacrilege.

Without naming any country, the vice president cautioned that some pernicious forces were trying to show India in a “bad colour” and called for a “counter-attack” to neutralise such attempts.

Dhankhar said the “pernicious forces” having a “sinister design” were seeking to unfairly taint India in a structured manner to use international fora to question our human rights record.

There was need to neutralise such forces “by actions which exemplify, if I may say in Indian context, ‘pratighat’ (counter-attack)”, he said, adding these forces have devised indices and rank everyone in the world to show “our nation in bad colour”.

India does not like to be sermonised or lectured on human rights, the vice president asserted.

He also hit out at the hunger index which ranked India poorly, saying during the Covid pandemic, the government supported over 80 crore people with free ration regardless of their caste and creed.

The vice president said the “sinister forces” are driven by an agenda which is “fiscally fueled” by people who seek to make a name for themselves.

“Time to shame them…They try to create havoc with the economic system of the country”, he said.

Underlining the safety of minorities in India, he said the country is way ahead of others when it comes to preserving human rights, particularly those of minorities, the marginalised and vulnerable sections of the society.

Dhankhar also noted that at the domestic front, some were trying to use human rights to further their political agenda.

He said, “Evidence in episode after episode” is piling up that the “deep state” is engaging in efforts against rising powers.

Human rights, Dhankhar underlined, cannot and should not be used as a tool of foreign policy to exert power and influence over others.

“Naming and shaming is a degraded form of diplomacy. You have to preach only what you practice,” he said.