India on Tuesday put its foot down at the United Nations General Assembly as it opposed the body’s resolution to have dedicate a day to supposedly fight Islamophobia while ignoring the plight of other religions. India said that this move might result in downplaying the hatred faced by followers of other faiths including Hinduism and Sikhism. The Indian mission also said that it is time the world identifies the prevalence of religiophobia rather than identifying and addressing hatred against just one religion.
The United Nations General Assembly passed the resolution to observe March 15 as the ‘International Day to Combat Islamophobia.’ India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, TS Tirumurti, said, “We are concerned about elevating the phobia against one religion to the level of an international day, to the exclusion of all the others.”
TS Tirumurti further stated, “Hinduism has more than 1.2 billion followers. Buddhism has more than 535 million and Sikhism has more than 30 million spread around the world. It is time that we acknowledged the prevalence of religiophobia, rather than single out just one.”
The resolution was supported by the 57 OIC countries, along with eight other countries, including Russia and China.
