Congress MP Jairam Ramesh, the party’s General Secretary for Communications, took a strong jab at the Narendra Modi government for reaching out to the Taliban. In a tweet on X, he asked people to imagine how the BJP and its allies would react if the Congress had done the same outreach. “If a Congress government had approached the Taliban the way Modi’s government is doing, how would the BJP and its network respond?” Ramesh wrote, echoing concerns about the current administration’s ties with the Afghan Taliban.
The criticism comes as Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi visits India from October 9 to 16. His week‑long trip marks the first high‑profile delegation from Kabul since the Taliban seized power in August 2021. The visit kicked off on a sour note when women journalists were reportedly barred from attending the Afghan FM’s press briefing at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi. The incident sparked a sharp backlash from opposition politicians who accused the BJP of undermining women’s rights.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, slammed Prime Minister Modi, saying that excluding women reporters from a public forum shows the government is “too weak to defend women’s rights.” He urged that Indian women should have equal participation in all public spaces, warning that the government’s silence betrays its promises under the Nari Shakti (Women Empowerment) initiative.
In response, the Ministry of External Affairs clarified that it played no part in the Afghan FM’s press interaction in New Delhi. “MEA had no involvement in the press interaction held by Amir Khan Muttaqi in Delhi yesterday,” the ministry said in a statement.
The events highlight growing tensions over the Modi government’s engagement strategy with the Taliban and raise questions about how India balances diplomatic outreach with domestic concerns over women’s rights and political accountability.
Source: aninews
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