Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, both Democrats from the United States, have opted to skip the joint address that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give to Congress. PM Modi is going to make history by being the first Indian leader to ever speak twice in front of a joint session of Congress in the United States.
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the only two Muslim women serving in Congress, have announced that they will not attend the upcoming joint address that will be given by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United States Congress. They justified their decision by pointing to what they believe to be ongoing breaches of human rights in India.
Omar took to Twitter to make the following statement: “Prime Minister Modi’s government has repressed religious minorities, emboldened violent Hindu nationalist groups, and targeted journalists/human rights advocates with impunity.”
In a subsequent piece of correspondence, she stated, “I will be holding a briefing with human rights groups to discuss Modi’s record of repression and violence.”
Tlaib remarked in a tweet that “it is shameful that Modi has been given a platform at our nation’s capital—his long history of human rights abuses, anti-democratic actions, targeting Muslims and religious minorities, and censoring journalists is unacceptable.” Tlaib was referring to the fact that Modi has a history of targeting Muslims and religious minorities.
“I will not be attending Modi’s joint address to Congress,” she continued. “I am boycotting it.”
In April of 2022, Ilhan Omar went to a region of Kashmir that is controlled by Pakistan and had a conversation with Imran Khan, a former Prime Minister of Pakistan. India has slammed the political manoeuvre while the White House in the United States was rapidly distancing itself from Omar’s visit and claiming that it was made in her personal capacity.
Omar has been very vocal about his hatred for India recently. She even went so far as to chastise the Biden administration for having a healthy relationship with the Modi government and had alleged that the Modi government is ‘anti-Muslim’ in the preceding year.
During his official visit to India this week, Vice President Biden has been urged to bring up the topic of human rights with Prime Minister Narendra Modi by more than seventy Democrats from the House and the Senate.
As part of an official state visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently in the United States of America at the request of Vice President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. On June 22, Prime Minister Modi will deliver a speech to a joint session of the Congress of the United States. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, will make history when he becomes the first Indian head of state to address a joint session of Congress on two separate occasions.