STRASBOURG: The European Union parliament slammed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) for its “nationalistic rhetoric” that it blamed for violence and the get together for its failure to guard minorities within the nation’s northeastern Manipur state.
The decision It got here as Modi started a two-day go to to France, the place he’ll attend the standard Bastille Day navy parade as a visitor of honour.
MEPs expressed concern over clashes between Manipur´s majority Meitei, who’re largely Hindus and dwell in and across the state capital Imphal, and the primarily Christian Kuki tribe within the surrounding hills.
The EU parliament mentioned the violence has “left at the least 120 folks useless, 50,000 displaced and over 1,700 homes and 250 church buildings destroyed”.
MEPs known as out “nationalistic rhetoric” and the parliament adopted a decision on Thursday urging Indian authorities to “promptly halt the ethnic and non secular violence and to guard all non secular minorities”.
The Kuki group had protested Meitei’s calls for for reserved public job quotas and school admissions as a type of affirmative motion.
This additionally stoked long-held fears among the many Kuki that the Meitei may additionally be allowed to accumulate land in areas presently reserved for tribal teams.
The decision famous that “intolerance in the direction of minority communities has contributed to the present violence and that there have been considerations about politically motivated, divisive insurance policies that promote Hindu majoritarianism within the space.”
“The Manipur state authorities has additionally shut down web connections and severely hindered reporting by the media, whereas safety forces have been implicated within the latest killings, one thing that has additional elevated mistrust within the authorities,” it mentioned.
It known as for unbiased investigations and lifting of web shutdowns.
It added that “human rights should be on the coronary heart of the partnership between the European Union and India, together with in commerce relations”.
MEP Pierre Larrouturou, the textual content´s chief negotiator, mentioned the native authorities of Modi’s BJP was “fanning the flames of battle”.
“By authorizing the armed forces to fireplace on civilians and reducing off Web companies, the BJP is utilizing the native violence to additional discriminate towards non-Hindu minorities”, he mentioned.
Larrouturou known as Modi’s invitation to the parade in Paris “an affront not solely to India´s minority communities, journalists and human rights defenders but additionally to India as a democracy”.
Manipur is a part of India´s distant northeast, a area linked to the remainder of the nation by a slim land hall.