Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has hit out at the western nations for portraying her country in a negative light.
Sitharaman spoke at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), a Washington-based think tank, on Monday, where she cast serious doubt on the alleged violation of rights of religious minorities in India.
Replying to a question on whether Muslims were allegedly being subjected to violence in India, Sitharaman posed a counter question, asking that if the democratic nation's policies were discriminatory towards adherents of Islam, then how come their population was growing there nationwide.
"India has the second-largest Muslim population in the world, and that population is only growing in numbers. If there is a perception, or if there's in reality, their lives are difficult or made difficult with the support of the state, which is what is implied in most of these write-ups, I would ask, will this happen in India in the sense, will the Muslim population be growing than what it was in 1947?" Sitharaman argued.
The Finance Minister cited the example of Pakistan, where minorities, she suggested, were "living in constant fear" and their numbers have witnessed a downward trajectory. As such, Hindus and Sikhs were regularly charged with blasphemy and at times framed in false cases, resulting in punishments as brutal as the death penalty, she argued.
Asserting that the Muslims of India were doing much better than their comrades in Pakistan, she highlighted that while some Muslim sects like the Muhajirs, Shias, and followers of Sufi Islam faced discrimination in Pakistan. In contrast, no such thing existed in India.
"Violence prevails against Muhajirs, Shia and every other group you can name which is not accepted by the mainstream. Whereas in India you would find every strand of Muslims doing their business, their children getting educated. Fellowships are being given by the government," she argued.
Taking the West to task for its portrayal of Muslims in India, where they showcase the minority community as victims of majority violence, the Indian finance chief noted that this depiction was itself a "fallacy".
"To say it's all the blame of the Government of India, I would want to say then, tell me, between 2014 and today, has the population dwindled? Have the deaths been disproportionately high in any one particular community? So, I would rather invite these people, who write these reports to come to India. I host them. Let them come to India and prove their point," she concluded.