India’s persecution of minorities echoes in British parliament
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January 16, 2021
ISLAMABAD: India, under the rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is undergoing an immense rise of religious nationalist vigilante groups and worsening social discrimination, posing a grave threat to the religious freedom of minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians.
This concern was expressed by British parliamentarians in a debate secured by MP Jim Shannon at the Westminster Hall on Tuesday, terming as “most worrying and disturbing” the situation in India with regard to minorities, particularly Muslims, Christians and other ethnic groups.
Shannon said despite Modi’s pledge to commit to “complete freedom of faith” since his election in 2014, there had been a significant increase in anti-minority rhetoric. He quoted IndiaSpend’s analysis of Indian Home Ministry data, showing a 28 per cent rise in communal violence between 2014 and 2017, with 822 “incidents” being r