Priyanka Gandhi slams Centre over ‘ban’ on female journalists at Afghan Minister’s presser

New Delhi: Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday sought clarification from the Centre over Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s press conference in Delhi, where women journalists were not permitted to participate. She questioned how the Central government is committed to women’s empowerment if such insults towards female journalists are allowed in India. Muttaqi, a senior leader in the Taliban government, is known for overseeing policies that severely restrict women’s rights in Afghanistan, including bans on employment and education.

India has maintained a cautious stance towards engaging with the Taliban due to its human rights record and concerns about Afghanistan becoming a haven for terror groups. In a post on X, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi, please clarify your position on the removal of female journalists from the press conference of the representative of the Taliban on his visit to India.” “If your recognition of women’s rights isn’t just convenient posturing from one election to the other, then how has this insult to some of India’s most competent women been allowed in our country, a country whose women are its backbone and its pride,” she said.

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Earlier in the day, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra also lashed out at the Centre for extending diplomatic courtesies to the Taliban delegation. “The Indian foreign ministry has laid out the red carpet for this man, this Taliban foreign minister who has had the gumption to ask for women to be removed from a room where he is having a press conference, and we are giving this delegation official status and providing them protocol,” she said.

Calling the incident a national shame, Moitra said, “This is the ultimate dishonour to the women of India that our government has been a willing participant and has used taxpayers’ money to fund this exercise. Women journalists have been asked to leave the room. What is going on?” “You’re talking about ‘Beti Bachao’, about women in India, about ‘Maas’ and ‘Behans’ and all of that.

You are providing, at taxpayer expense, official protocol and the red carpet for a government delegation that is actually on Indian soil, dishonouring our values and asking for women to be removed from the room,” she added, criticising the government.