NEW DELHI: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi presented the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development to former President of Chile Michelle Bachelet. The decision of the Congress party has drawn widespread criticism as the award has been given to a leader who is known for her persistent anti-India remarks.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has sharply criticized the move of the Congress party and has asserted that Michelle Bachelet relentlessly promoted the anti-India narrative during her tenure as the chief of United Nations Human Rights Commission(UNHRC) till 2022. She has also interfered in the internal and sovereign matters of India by criticizing the strategic actions of India such as NRC. She has also intruded in the Kashmir issue, which is apparently purely an internal matter, pertaining to the sovereignty of India.
The BJP thus criticized Congress for appreciating and acknowledging those people who are evidently anti-India and those who do not respect the sovereignty or strategic autonomy of India. Previously, even the Government of India had debunked the statements of Michelle Bachelet as “biased”, “unwarranted” and inaccurate”.
Michelle Bachelet, during her tenure as the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, in her opening remarks to the commission had raised the issue of Kashmir in the year 2018. She had claimed that there are no meaningful improvements or even serious discussions with respect to the human rights situation in Kashmir. “The people of Kashmir have exactly the same rights to justice and dignity as people all over the world, and we urge the authorities to respect them. The Office continues to request permission to visit both sides of the Line of Control, and in the meantime, will continue its monitoring and reporting”, Michelle Bachelet had exclaimed in a biased and baseless statement in UNHRC.
Reacting to her statement, the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations had exclaimed that human rights issues had to be addressed in a transparent and credible manner without harming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. The Indian Representative had also expressed regret for mentioning about the “Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir”. India had also affirmed that cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan was the biggest challenge to restore human rights in the state of J&K.
As the Human Rights Commissioner at the UN, Michelle Bachelet had spoken about the NRC in a biased manner. She had claimed that the National Register of Citizens(NRC) had caused “great uncertainty and anxiety” to the people of Assam. Both NRC and the issue of Kashmir are concerned with the sovereignty and national security of India in which any biassed and lack of evidence comments are not suitable.
The Congress party decision to award the Indira Gandhi peace prize to the person who has a history of anti-India remarks and who has always been critical of the decisions of India without actually examining the core issue pertaining to the nation’s sovereignty and national security is thus questionable. The decision of the Congress party has thus stimulated criticism from a wide spectrum of the country.
