A documentary banned by the Indian government was aired in the Australian parliament during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day trip Down Under.
Greens senator Jordon Steele-John says he feels “real anger” over Anthony Albanese’s failure to discuss human rights in India with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but says he must be willing to accept criticism of Australia’s own failures.
Mr Modi has just wrapped up a three-day visit to Australia for bilateral talks on trade, business, investment and migration.
Mr Albanese introduced his Indian counterpart at an event attended by 20,000 people in Sydney on Tuesday before the pair posed for pictures in front of the Sydney Opera House which was lit up in the colours of the Indian flag on Wednesday.
At the same time, around 50 people
of a documentary
. The documentary explored his alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots, which killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. The Indian government banned the BBC program over what they claimed was a lack of objectivity.
The gathering, partly organised by Amnesty International, heard demands for Mr Albanese to raise allegations of alleged
and crackdowns on the free press with Mr Modi directly during his two-day tour of Australia.
Senator Steele-John, born in England, accepted there was “often a double standard” from Western countries when it came to discussing human rights, citing suffering inflicted on Indigenous Australians and the “systematic extraction of wealth” perpetrated by his country of birth in India.
“[We] deeply value [our] relationship with the nation of India … Part of that relationship is willing to be critical … as to the state of the human rights situation in India, and to do so while inviting the same criticism in return,” he told the event.
“We need to speak frankly. We also need to be prepared to be spoken frankly to, in return, as to our human rights abuses.”
Senator Steele-John said many of the criticisms outlined in the BBC documentary were “mirrored … by political leaders in this very building”, including discrimination faced by Muslims and other minorities.
Mr Modi was Gujarat’s chief minister at the time, and has long denied claims he ordered police not to intervene. A special investigation concluded in 2012 that there was no sufficient evidence against him.
The report found a campaign of violence bore “all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing”, including the systematic rape of Muslim women.
The documentary alleged that British officials had spoken to sources who claimed Mr Modi met with police officers and ordered them not to intervene in the violence. Mr Modi has always vehemently denied the allegations.
Mr Modi’s government used emergency powers to ban the documentary, criticising what it called the BBC’s lack of objectivity and “continuing colonial mindset”.
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