US envoy: DC has spoken to Delhi about intolerance, NGOs

'Yes, we engage when those issues come up and try to strike that balance between what is an internal domestic matter for the government to resolve, and what's an issue that actually should be raised on the bilateral level.'

Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com reports from Washington, DC.

Washington, DC has engaged with the Narendra Modi government on the recent incidents that have sparked allegations of intolerance toward minorities in India as well as against NGOs including the Ford Foundation that was forced to leave India, Richard Rahul Verma, the US Ambassador to India, said.

During an interaction with a small group of journalists following his remarks on US-India relations in 2015 at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, in reply to questions from Rediff.com on both these issues, Verma argued, "Let me say first, that as two often loud and boisterous democracies, we both have some discordant notes in both our societies."

And, hence, he said, "It's important that we stay lashed up on these sets of issues -- and so we are."

"I will tell you that when an Indian national or South Asian national runs into a problem in the United States -- and I think an Indian national, an elderly man, ran into an incident in Alabama -- we heard from Indian government officials about that," Verma said, "and we tried to be responsive and address those concerns."

"And, similarly, on the Indian side, one thing I will say, when we run into situations like that -- and we are both also a country of laws -- we have to let the processes work."

"We have to separate that out from the civil society and NGO issues," the ambassador asserted, "and as some of you may know, I've spoken out about some of the civil society issues many, many, months ago -- in March or April -- when we first ran into challenges."

"But again," he noted, "I did it in the spirit of the fact that we both have these incredibly robust civil societies -- India with two million NGOs and ours with a rich tradition and also with the rich tradition of American NGOs -- contributing to Indian development, science, innovation, including the Ford Foundation."

"So, to answer your question," Verma said, "yes, we engage when those issues come up and try to strike that balance between what is an internal domestic matter for the government to resolve, and what's an issue that actually should be raised on the bilateral level."

"But because we have so much engagement," he reiterated, "it's only natural that both sides raise issues of concern and so we do, and we have frankly, a very good dialogue about it."

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IMAGE: Greenpeace, one of the NGOs the Modi government has targeted.