Amid Oppn outrage, Centre says decision to exclude women journos from press meet taken by Afghanistan govt

New Delhi: As the Opposition found fault with the exclusion of women journalists from Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi's press conference here, the union government on Saturday said it was the decision of Afghanistan government and the venue was embassy premises which does not come under India's jurisdiction.

An outraged Opposition called the Afghan decision as “shocking and unacceptable” and claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was telling Indian women that he is “too weak to stand up for them” when he allowed it to happen.

Official sources, however, said that the invites for the press conference had been sent out by the officials of the consulate general of Afghanistan in Mumbai and the government has no role in it. The Afghan embassy is not under the jurisdiction of the government of India, sources added.

Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) said the government may have strategic reasons for re-setting ties with the Taliban regime in Kabul but the "blatant disregard" of women's rights is "unacceptable" and the "deliberate exclusion" of women journalists "seems like tacit consent, if not approval, of the Taliban's blatant discrimination against women".

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said women have the right to equal participation in every space and Modi’s silence “in the face of such discrimination exposes the emptiness of your slogans on ‘nari shakti’ (women power).”

“Mr Modi, when you allow the exclusion of women journalists from a public forum, you are telling every woman in India that you are too weak to stand up for them,” he posted on ‘X’.

Senior Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked Modi to clarify his position on the incident. “If your recognition of women’s rights isn’t just convenient posturing from one election to the other, then how has this insult to some of India’s most competent women been allowed in our country, a country whose women are its backbone and its pride,” she said.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh posted on 'X', "(Tali)ban on female journalists in India. Shocking and unacceptable that the Govt of India agreed to it – and that too in New Delhi on the eve of the International Day of the Girl Child.”

The press conference addressed by Muttaqi, after his talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Friday saw participation restricted to a handful of male reporters.

Senior DMK MP Kanimozhi said, “How could the BJP government and S Jaishankar allow such a regressive, discriminatory demand and be dictated terms in our own country? This is not diplomacy, it’s a complete surrender of our integrity, and a shameful compromise on India’s commitment to equality and press freedom.”

Trinamool Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader Sagarika Ghose, also a former journalist, claimed the government again revealed its “failure to evolve a foreign policy in which engagement is separated from endorsement” while terming the incident a “not oh-so-smart ‘geostrategic diplomacy’ but a surrender by the weak, failed” Modi government.

Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra said the Modi government has “dishonoured” every single Indian woman through the incident while adding, “shameful bunch of spineless hypocrites”.

RJD's Manoj K Jha said India has compromised its own moral and diplomatic standing and this is “not just a procedural lapse but a symbolic surrender” of the country’s long-cherished commitment to equality, freedom of the press, and gender justice.

“...this incident is deeply disappointing and politically short-sighted. It sends out the wrong message to Indian women and the global community that convenience has triumphed over conviction,” he said.

Senior MP P Chidambaram said he was “shocked” and the “men journalists should have walked out when they found that their women colleagues were excluded (or not invited).”

In its official ‘X’ handle, the Congress said the incident reflected the “utter disregard for women’s dignity that has become normal” under the Modi government.

“When the world looks to India, a democracy built on equality, what message are we sending by allowing such discrimination to take place here? We demand answers from the Modi government. How can they let anyone disrespect women on our soil? Or is this the government’s own vision for women — silence, exclusion, and submission? How weak are you, S Jaishankar and Narendra Modi, that you cannot even defend the basic dignity of Indian women in your own country?” it added.