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Returning from India where she held wide-ranging conversations with officials and civil society leaders, a senior State Department official said on Monday that a “new era” of openness in dialogue had emerged under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and in that space it was possible to discuss matters that had not been frequently brought up earlier, including gender-based violence.
Speaking to a small media group in Washington, Sarah Sewall, U.S. Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, said that one of the most “exciting” openings that she sought to build on in during her visit was Mr. Modi’s recognition of “the central role of women in the future and economy of the country,” and she characterised his remarks in his Independence Day speech as “remarkable in their frankness and their foresight about the role of women.”
Additionally, Ms. Sewell said, she had the opportunity to meet with Kailash Satyarthi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who spoke with her about his commitment to children’s rights as they pertain to both anti-trafficking and anti-slavery.
While Ms. Sewell appeared to sense an expanded space for the discussion of such issues, the rights of religious minorities may not have featured as widely as these other issues did.
Although the Under Secretary said that while in India she had met with “rights monitors, faith leaders who talk about religious minority protections,” in response to a question from The Hindu on the slow progress with delivering justice to victims of the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat she suggested that human rights issues in this context may be raised through the Global Issues Forum rather than directly in bilateral summit meetings.
Both Ms. Sewell and another U.S. official, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Atul Keshap, said that the agenda so far as minority religious rights were concerned would be “forward looking.”
When Mr. Modi met U.S. President Barack Obama here over a summit meeting in September, the President apparently avoided any mention of minority rights in India despite pressure from multiple constituents, including a bipartisan group of eleven Congressmen, to introduce the subject of curbs on religious freedoms affecting Muslims and Christians in the country.
