17 Civil society organisations urge President Biden to reconsider dinner invitation to PM Modi
PM Modi’s US state visit
Washington DC: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will be on his first official state visit to the United States from June 21 to 24, following an invitation extended by President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, will also be part of dinner hosted by the US President and First lady on June 22 to honour the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, at least 17 civil society organisations have expressed displeasure over the US president hosting a dinner for the Indian PM and have urged the US President Joe Biden to cancel the dinner invitation to the Indian PM.
According to a report in the Indian American Muslim Council’s (IAMC) official website a coalition of 17 civil rights organisations, including the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), Hindus for Human Rights , Dalit Solidarity Inc., Genocide Watch and others have released an open letter urging President Joe Biden to reconsider his decision to extend a state dinner invitation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, due to the steep decline of democratic values and the continuous violation of human rights against minority communities under his regime.
As per the report, In the letter the organisations voice their apprehensions about the involvement of the Modi administration in fostering Hindu extremist mob violence, hate crimes, and hate speech, with a particular focus on the Muslim and Christian communities. They further underscore the enforcement of biased laws designed to curtail the rights of minority groups, hinder religious conversions and interfaith marriages, and curtail freedom of expression, dissent, and assembly., read the report.
Quoting the letter, the report on the IAMC read as follows, “The invitation to Modi as a state guest signals that the US supports India’s crackdown on fundamental democratic rights and emboldens the Modi administration to intensify its anti-democratic agenda,” the letter stated.
In a press statement, Indian American Muslim Council called PM Modi a champion of “Hindutva, a radical-nazi inspired ideology.” The IAMC also highlighted the gesture of inviting Modi for a dinner as an indication of the United States support towards India’s downslide of democracy.
At the same time, researcher and columnist Ashok Swain took to twitter expressing dismay over dinner invitation by Biden wrote, “Biden talks of promoting democracy, but breaks bread with dictators, who destroy democracies! 17 civil society organisations ask Biden to cancel the dinner invitation to Modi.”
Accordingly, 17 organisations namely, Indian American Muslim Council, Hindus for Human Rights, Dalit Solidarity Inc. , World Without Genocide, Intl Defenders Council , Intl Society for Peace and Justice, Genocide Watch, Jubilee Campaign, Asian Children's Education Fellowship, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR, Misión Vida para las Naciones, Church in the Republic of Uruguay, Global Christian Relief, American Sikh Council, Human Rights and Grassroots Development Society, Intl Commission for Dalit Rights, American Muslim Institute, have signed the letter and have urged the US president to reconsider dinner invitation extended to Indian PM Modi.
Biden talks of promoting democracy, but breaks bread with dictators, who destroy democracies!
— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) June 8, 2023
17 civil society organizations ask Biden to cancel the dinner invitation to Modi.
1. Indian American Muslim Council
2. Hindus for Human Rights
3. Dalit Solidarity Inc.
4. World Without…
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BJP accuses CM Siddaramaiah of 'misleading' public on govt job figures
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra on Wednesday lashed out at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, accusing him of "misleading" the public on government recruitment figures and "failing" to address the concerns of unemployed youth in the state.
In a detailed post on his X handle, Vijayendra alleged that the Congress-led government was attempting to deflect accountability by blaming the previous BJP administration instead of initiating concrete steps to fill vacant posts.
“Chief Minister, please refrain from misleading the people. Do not attempt to shift the blame for all your shortcomings onto the BJP and evade responsibility. Your administration has earned a reputation for arrogance, corruption and mismanagement,” Vijayendra said, adding that students and youth were not naïve enough to be swayed by what he termed as "exaggerated claims".
Vijayendra's response came following Siddaramaiah's statement on Tuesday blaming BJP for the huge backlog of government job vacancies.
The CM had said that when Congress assumed office in 2023, over 2.64 lakh government posts were vacant.
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The backlog resulted from prolonged inaction under the previous BJP government, which failed to initiate timely recruitment or create a structured roadmap, he said.
As thousands of government job aspirants staged a massive protests in Dharwad on Tuesday demanding filling the vacant posts immediately, Siddaramaiah accused BJP leaders of "misleading students for political gains" and said recruitment irregularities and alleged corruption between 2019 and 2023 had eroded trust in the system, leading to the current crisis.
Questioning the government’s public statements on employment generation, Vijayendra referred to figures tabled in the Legislative Assembly.
“According to the official figures presented by your own government in the Legislative Assembly, only 8,157 government recruitments have been completed during your three years in office. Yet publicly claiming that 40,000 posts have been filled raises serious concerns. Does this not amount to misleading the unemployed youth of the state?” the Shikaripura MLA asked.
The BJP leader also raised the issue of large-scale vacancies in government departments, claiming that lakhs of posts remained unfilled even after the Congress came to power.
According to him, the state was struggling financially and questioned the delay in initiating fresh recruitment drives despite what he described as legal clarity on proceeding under the existing reservation framework.
Vijayendra further criticised the government for prioritising the accommodation of party workers and disgruntled MLAs in state-run corporations with ministerial rank and perks, while unemployed youth continued to wait for job opportunities.
“At the very least, please stop making claims that do not align with facts. Youth unrest in the state is mounting. Before matters escalate further, act with sincerity — or consider stepping down and seeking the people’s forgiveness,” the BJP state chief said.
Noting that frustration among students and job aspirants was intensifying, Vijayendra urged the CM to immediately expedite pending recruitment processes and ensure transparency in appointments.
He warned that the government would be held accountable for any fallout arising out of growing youth discontent.
