Not xenophobic, we’re open, welcoming: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 4

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has rejected the recent remark by US President Joe Biden describing India as “xenophobic” and that its economy along with that of Russia, China and Japan was faltering due to this reason.

The EAM maintained that India “has been open and welcoming to people from diverse societies and its economy has been growing at a healthy rate of 7 per cent”.

Evident from CAA

We are actually just not xenophobic, we are the most open and the most pluralistic... the CAA shows our welcoming approach. Secondly, if you talk about economic performance, you know our GDP is at 7%. S Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister

“India is always... has been a very unique country. It’s been a society which is very open... different people from different societies come to India,” he said. The minister claimed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) showed India’s welcoming approach and that the section of the Western media, which was not objectively reporting on the unrest in US universities, was also targeting India.

“Secondly, there was some talk about economic performance. You know our GDP is at 7 per cent. You check other people’s GDP, check the growth rate and you will get the answer,” he said during an interaction with professionals in Bhubaneswar. The White House, meanwhile, tried to dilute the impact of Biden’s observations, saying, “He (Biden) was making a broader point. Our allies and partners know very well that how much this president respects them.”

Speaking at a fundraiser on Thursday, the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential candidate had said, “You know, one of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants. Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants.” On Pakistan Foreign Office’s charge of Indian involvement in the killing of terrorists to whom it has provided safe havens, Jaishankar said, “Terrorists are there in large numbers. Statistically, where they will be in large numbers, things will happen to them. Now they have created an industry which is the terrorist’s industry... things could happen there.”

The EAM opposed Nepal’s decision to introduce a new Rs 100 currency note that incorporates territories claimed by India. “With Nepal, we were having discussions about our boundary matters through an established platform. And then in the middle of that, they unilaterally took some measures on their side. But by doing something on their side, they are not going to change the situation between us or the reality on the ground,” he said.

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