- Thursday, April 24, 2025
Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar accused Modi of supressing religious minorities and said they would stay away from his address to the joint session of the US Congress.
By: Shubham Ghosh
WHILE several US politicians were lining up to welcome Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in American after he landed in New York on Tuesday (20) and has some high-profile commitments, two Muslim women members of the US Congress said they would stay away from the Indian leader’s address to the joint session of the Congress on Thursday (22).
Both the members — Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar — are from the ruling Democratic Party and are part of ‘The Squad’ which comprises two other progressive Congresswomen — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley.
The 46-year-old Tlaib, who represents Michigan and is of Palestinian origin, wrote on Twitter that Modi’s “long history of human rights abuses, anti-democratic actions, targeting Muslims and religious minorities, and censoring journalists is unacceptable”.
It’s shameful that Modi has been given a platform at our nation’s capital—his long history of human rights abuses, anti-democratic actions, targeting Muslims & religious minorities, and censoring journalists is unacceptable.
I will be boycotting Modi’s joint address to Congress.
— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) June 20, 2023
Omar followed suit hours later and posted a tweet saying, “Prime Minister Modi’s government has repressed religious minorities, emboldened violent Hindu nationalist groups, and targeted journalists/human rights advocates with impunity.”
Prime Minister Modi’s government has repressed religious minorities, emboldened violent Hindu nationalist groups, and targeted journalists/human rights advocates with impunity.
I will NOT be attending Modi’s speech.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) June 20, 2023
The 40-year-old Somalian-born lawmaker representing Minnesota will also host an event following Modi’s address and it will feature experts on human rights, religious freedom leaders and other members of the Congress on India policy issues, The Hill reported.
In April last year, Omar irked the Indian establishment with a trip to Pakistan when she set her foot on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, prompting New Delhi to call it “condemnable”.
At a press conference, Omar said the Joe Biden administration and the Congress were not talking as much about human rights violations in Jammu & Kashmir and the effects that Modi administration’s anti-Muslim rhetoric had caused.
The Hill report also said that a group comprising more than 70 Democrats from the House and Senate have urged Biden to make human rights the focus of his talks with the Indian prime minister this week.
A US panel has also recommended that the state department designate the South Asian nation among others as “countries of particular concern” for violating religious freedoms.
