![\"\"](\"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/10\/1212.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
New Delhi: The Opposition was outraged at the exclusion of women journalists from a press conference of visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi at the embassy here, calling it \u201cshocking and unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said women have the right to equal participation in every space and Modi\u2019s silence \u201cin the face of such discrimination exposes the emptiness of your slogans on \u2018nari shakti\u2019 (women power).\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Modi, when you allow the exclusion of women journalists from a public forum, you are telling every woman in India that you are too weak to stand up for them,\u201d he posted on \u2018X\u2019.<\/p>\n
Senior Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked Modi to clarify his position on the incident. \u201cIf your recognition of women\u2019s rights isn\u2019t just convenient posturing from one election to the other, then how has this insult to some of India\u2019s most competent women been allowed in our country, a country whose women are its backbone and its pride,\u201d she said<\/p>\n
The press conference addressed by Amir Khan Muttaqi, after his talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Friday saw participation restricted to a handful of male reporters.<\/p>\n
Trinamool Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader Sagarika Ghose, also a former journalist, claimed the government again revealed its \u201cfailure to evolve a foreign policy in which engagement is separated from endorsement\u201d while terming the incident a \u201cnot oh-so-sma \u2018geostrategic diplomacy\u2019 but a surrender by the weak, failed\u201d Modi government.<\/p>\n
Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra said the Modi government has \u201cdishonoured\u201d every single Indian woman through the incident while adding, \u201cshameful bunch of spineless hypocrites\u201d.<\/p>\n
RJD’s Manoj K Jha said India has compromised its own moral and diplomatic standing and this is \u201cnot just a procedural lapse but a symbolic surrender\u201d of the country\u2019s long-cherished commitment to equality, freedom of the press, and gender justice.<\/p>\n
\u201c…this incident is deeply disappointing and politically short-sighted. It sends out the wrong message to Indian women and the global community that convenience has triumphed over conviction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Senior MP P Chidambaram said he was \u201cshocked\u201d and the \u201cmen journalists should have walked out when they found that their women colleagues were excluded (or not invited).\u201d<\/p>\n
In its official \u2018X\u2019 handle, the Congress said the incident reflected the \u201cutter disregard for women\u2019s dignity that has become normal\u201d under the Modi government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the world looks to India, a democracy built on equality, what message are we sending by allowing such discrimination to take place here? We demand answers from the Modi government. How can they let anyone disrespect women on our soil? Or is this the government\u2019s own vision for women \u2014 silence, exclusion, and submission? How weak are you, S Jaishankar and Narendra Modi, that you cannot even defend the basic dignity of Indian women in your own country?\u201d it\u00a0added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi: The Opposition was outraged at the exclusion of women journalists from a press conference of visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi at the embassy here, calling it \u201cshocking and unacceptable.\u201d According to Kashmir Media Service, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said women have the right to equal participation in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":185403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2025\/10\/1212.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185401"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185406,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185401\/revisions\/185406"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}