Representatives of extreme right-wing parties, members of the European Parliament are visiting the Kashmir valley today as the first international delegation since the government abrogated its special status and imposed a clampdown.
While the Ministry of External Affairs has categorically denied any involvement in the event, the European Parliament and the European Union’s hierarchy have also distanced themselves from it stating that they have come to India in their “personal capacity”.
Several European embassies in New Delhi were unaware of the visit until Monday when PM Narendra Modi posted a picture posing with the 23-strong-team accompanied with an official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office saying, “PM Modi expressed the hope that the Members in the European Parliament (MEPs) have a fruitful visit to various parts of the country, including Jammu & Kashmir. Their visit to Jammu & Kashmir should give the delegation a better understanding of the cultural and religious diversity of the region of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh; apart from giving them a clear view of the development and governance priorities of the region.”
However, the group deemed a “delegation of MEPs” has not been sent or approved by the European Union. “This is not on an official visit and they came here at the invitation of a non-government group,” said an EU official in India, speaking on condition of anonymity, France24 reported. “We are not organising any of their meetings”, the official added.
Thierry Mariani, a Euro MP for France’s far-right National Rally, told AFP, “We are going to see the situation in Kashmir, at least what they want to show us”.
About The Delegates
While the Indian Prime Minister’s Office elucidated the particulars of his meeting on the website, it is interesting to note that the 23 members of European Parliament belong to anti-immigrant, Euro-sceptic, Islamophobic, racist, right-wing populist parties.
Alice Wiedel, a part of the ‘delegation’ is a leader of Germany’s far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD). During the 2017 polls, she said that the arrival of more than a million refugees had made the country “a safe haven for criminals and terrorists”, and openly lesbian herself, she said that those who attacked homosexuals were “always the same”, that is, “people with Muslim backgrounds, Arabs”.
Two people from AfD are a part of the unofficial delegation.
Matteo Salvini, a member of the group, is from the populist party Lega Nord or simply Lega. He, while serving as the Deputy Prime Minister from 1st June 2018 to 5th September 2019, likened African immigrants to slaves in a 2018 conference in Vienna on security and migration.
Two representatives from Lega, including Salvini, are included in the group.
France’s National Rally’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen, rebranded her party in 2018 by changing its name as it was earlier Front National. This was her effort to move towards a more populist and anti-immigrant position and away from the anti-Semitic and racist sentiments the party’s former leader, her own father, was known to have. However, she has given several anti-immigrant statements forgetting that her own country was a colonizer and co-responsible for the enslavement of West Africans. She has also given anti-Islam statements before and is slated to visit India’s only state with a formidable Muslim majority with other Euro MPs.
Six members of the group are part of France’s National Rally.
Five are from Poland’s national-conservative Christian democratic and right-wing populist political party – Prawo i Sprawiedliwość.
Four belong to the United Kingdom’s conservative and anti-immigrant Brexit Party.
Among others in the group are leaders of the Czech Republic’s centre-right Christian and Democratic Union party known as Czechoslovak People’s Party; Vlaams Belang, a far-right party in Belgium which stands for Flemish nationalism and opposes multiculturalism; Spain’s far-right party VOX which has always stood against the Catalonian call for independence.
All the parties named are also known for making racist, anti-immigrant and Islamophobic remarks.
And interestingly, as reported by Scroll, the European Parliament has an official “Delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia” and only France’s Thierry Mariani and the Czech Republic’s Tomas Zdechovsky are “substitute” members of the official delegation.
Although unsanctioned by the EU itself, this delegation does not comprise of people listed by the organisation as experts or relationship-builders with South Asian countries.
Indian Politicians And Journos Shunned
The Modi-led government has made concerted efforts to keep political leaders out of the region while putting all of Jammu and Kashmir’s native political leadership in detention since the evening of August 4th.
Yesterday’s development, that was unknown to the government’s own Ministry of External Affairs, shocked the opposition of the country as…
