Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has sharply criticised theNarendra  Modi government for inviting the Taliban foreign minister to visit India. Asked if it was fitting and appropriate for a secular democracy, where women have equal rights in every respect with men, to invite the Taliban foreign minister as an honoured guest, given the way the Taliban treats Afghan women, she replied: “No, no, no, unequivocally no”.

In an interview to The Wire, Moitra said that the government is guilty not just of accepting the Taliban’s abysmal record on women rights but “legitimising it”. She accused Modi of lacking the strength and courage to tell the Taliban that the Indian government cannot invite the Taliban foreign minister whilst the Taliban government treats Afghan women the way it does. She said: “You have let down all the women of India. This is not a 56-inch chest. Where is the chappan inch chati? You couldn’t stand up, you couldn’t say, you couldn’t tell the Taliban, by the way, I can’t invite you here till you change your policies. I am sorry.”

Moitra pointed out that the US did exactly this to Modi after Godhra in 2002. They didn’t give him a visa to visit the United States even though he was the serving chief minister of Gujarat. “They said we can’t invite you Narendra Modi even though you are chief minister of Gujarat, and have been given legitimacy by the people of Gujarat. Our politics in the United States does not allow us to host you as a visiting head of state.”

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