Washington: The White House on Monday, June 26, 2023 condemned the online harassment of a journalist who was interviewing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Muslim journalists asked Modi about his government’s human rights record during his visit to the White House last week.

“We are aware of the reports of harassment. This is unacceptable, and we absolutely condemn any harassment of journalists anywhere, under any circumstances,” said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, quoted by Business Today, Tuesday, June 27, 2023.

The online harassment was carried out against Sabrina Siddiqui – a Muslim correspondent – who worked for the Wall Street Journal.

“This is totally unacceptable and goes against the democratic principles demonstrated last week during (Prime Minister Modi’s) state visit to the United States,” Kirby added.

Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration is “committed to freedom of the press, which is why we held a (joint) press conference on Thursday. last with US President Joe Biden and Modi”.

At the press conference, Siddiqui asked the Hindu leader what steps he was taking “to strengthen the rights of Muslims and other minorities in India and uphold freedom of expression.”

“Our constitution and our government have proven that democracy can do this. When I say deliver, regardless of caste, creed, religion, gender, there is absolutely no room for discrimination (in my government),” Modi said in response.

Question from Siddiwho led the reaction to Siddique was the chief information officer Bharatiya Janata Festival (BJP) Amit Malviya calling his questions ‘motivated’ and using terms like ‘device gang’

“Prime Minister Modi absolutely demolishes the motivational question on the steps taken to ‘protect’ the rights of Muslims and other minorities. In his response, he did not mention Muslims or any other faith, talked about the Constitution, access to government resources based on merit, and non-discrimination based on caste, creed, religion or geography. After President Biden’s cold response to a similar question, this is another blow to the tools group,” Malviya wrote on Twitter.

“Prime Minister Modi absolutely demolishes the motivational question on the steps taken to ‘protect’ the rights of Muslims and other minorities. In his response, he did not mention Muslims or any other faith, talked about the Constitution, access to government resources based on merit, and non-discrimination based on caste, creed, religion or geography. After President Biden’s cold response to a similar question, this is another blow to the tool gang,” Malviya tweeted.

Soon after, pro-Hindutva and pro-BJP Twitter accounts turned on Siddiqui, calling him a “Pakistani Islamist” and raising conspiracy theories about his motivation behind the interrogation. “He was only targeting India. Hatred is in the DNA of Pakistanis,” said one of the Twitter accounts.

Pro-BJP websites such as OpIndia went further, reporting that she was the daughter of “Pakistani parents” and “echoing Islamist claims”.

“For the uninitiated, the journalists who then ask cleverly crafted questions echo the demands of both Islamists and left-liberals; alleging persecution of Muslims in India, none other than Sabrina Siddiqui is the daughter of Pakistani parents,” writes the OpIndia article.

In response to online accusations of calling him “anti-Indian”, Siddiqui shared a photo of himself and his Indian-born father cheering on the Indian cricket team on his Twitter account.

“As some have chosen to reveal my personal background, it felt appropriate to provide a fuller picture. Sometimes identity is more complex than it appears,” he tweeted along with the photos. .