The United Kingdom can have discussions with India on issues related to alleged violation of human rights in a “friendly and private way”, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said after a meeting with his counterpart in New Delhi, Narendra Modi, on Friday.
Johnson was responding to a journalist who asked if he had conveyed concerns over allegations of human rights violations in India as well as growing perceptions in the western nations about backsliding of democracy in the country to Modi.
“On our relations with India and how we deal with questions around human rights and democratic values, of course, we have these conversations but the advantage of our friendship is that we can have them, and we can have them in a friendly and private way,” Johnson said addressing a news conference before concluding his two-day tour to India.
“It's very important to realise that India has constitutional protections for communities, India is very very different from autocracies around the world. It is a great democracy....around 1.35 billion people live in a democracy and that's something we should celebrate,” said the British Prime Minister.
Amnesty India criticised the British Prime Minister on Thursday after he inaugurated a new plant of the UK-based company, Joseph Cyril Bamford Excavators Limited, in Gujarat and perched on a bulldozer manufactured by the company for photo-ops – notwithstanding the controversy over alleged use of the machine by the authorities to demolish properties of the people belonging to minority communities.
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(Published 22 April 2022, 17:32 IST)
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