Extracts from PM's
statement on Priorities for Government
(Bosworth) (Con): I
congratulate the Prime Minister on a brilliant start, and
particularly his support of the health service. Is he aware that
his counterpart in India, Prime Minister Modi, has oversight of two
health Ministries: the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and
the Ministry of AYUSH, which is for traditional and complementary
medicine and has 7,000 hospitals? Will he ensure that the Health
Secretary is in contact with AYUSH?
The Prime Minister: I thank my hon. Friend and congratulate him
on the heroic campaign he has waged to promote alternative
medicines and therapies of all kinds. I feel sure that it would
be to the benefit of my right hon. Friend the Health Secretary,
who is not in his place—he has gone off to solve social care. I
think it very important that we have an open mind about Ayurvedic
medicine and other such therapies, but we should approach it on
the basis of science first.
(West
Dunbartonshire) (SNP): Having been incarcerated for over 600 days
now, and having made accusations of torture against the Indian
state, Jagtar Singh Johal has, since incarceration, seen in post
two Prime Ministers, three Foreign Secretaries and four
Under-Secretaries, one of whom was suspended from their position.
Can the Prime Minister assure my constituent, a UK national, that
his Government, in making their trade deals with the Indian
state, have my constituent’s name at the top of the agenda? Will
he seek a meeting with the Foreign Secretary, me and the Singh
Johal family at the soonest opportunity?
The Prime Minister: I know that the Foreign Secretary will take
up the case of Jagtar Singh Johal assiduously, as all previous
Foreign Secretaries have done.
Extract from debate on
the summer adjournment
(West Ham) (Lab):...I fear that
it is the same with Modi’s Government. On 17 June, when the new
Indian Parliament was being sworn in, members of the ruling party
chanted the Hindu nationalist slogan “Jai Sri Ram” whenever a
Muslim representative stood up to take their oath. It was an
attempt to intimidate and delegitimise those elected
representatives based on their religion. Those words could simply
be an expression of faith, but they have been twisted into
something horrifying.
Since then, there have been repeated Islamophobic attacks,
accompanied by that same chant. On 22 June, Tabrez Ansari was
tied to a pole, beaten and abused by a crowd in the open. He
cried and begged for mercy. After the crowd were done with
Tabrez—after they had forced him to repeat their slogan and taken
yet another step to erase his difference—the police took him into
custody. Reportedly, he was refused medical help. His family
members were threatened with similar beatings and not permitted
even to see him until, four days later, he died of his injuries.
There have been many further attacks. A Hindu video is being
shared, with the lyric:
“Whoever doesn’t say Jai Sri Ram, send him to the graveyard.”
Frankly, that is the language of genocide...
