India “strongly deplored” comments made by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who expressed concern over the treatment of Muslim minorities in the South Asian nation.
Mr Khamenei said in a social media post on Monday Muslims cannot be oblivious to the suffering of their brethren in India, Myanmar, and Gaza.
“The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah,” he wrote.
“We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in Myanmar, Gaza, India, or any other place,” Mr Khamenei said.
The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah. We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in #Myanmar, #Gaza, #India, or any other place.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 16, 2024
New Delhi on Tuesday objected to the “unacceptable” statement, calling it “misinformation”.
“Countries commenting on minorities are advised to look at their own record before making any observations about others,” an Indian foreign ministry spokesperson said.
India’s 200 million Muslims, under the governance of prime minister Narendra Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have been subjected to discrimination, economic boycott, mob lynchings and sectarian violence, according to rights group.
A Human Rights Watch report in August found Mr Modi made Islamophobic remarks in at least 110 speeches during the general election while campaigning for BJP to secure a rare third term in office.
Despite sharing strong bilateral ties with New Delhi, Mr Khamenei has repeatedly criticised the majoritarian government’s outlook towards minorities and the troubled Indian federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Iranian supreme leader in March 2020 protested the religious violence in capital New Delhi which led to the deaths of 53 people, mostly Muslims. Mr Khamenei called the riot a “massacre of Muslims” and called on India to confront “extremist Hindus and their parties” to prevent India’s “isolation from the world of Islam”.
A year earlier, he expressed concern over the condition of Muslims in Kashmir just days after the Modi government revoked its special status, imposed a communications blockade, and bifurcated the state into two federal territories.
“We have good relations with India, but we expect the Indian government to adopt a just policy towards the noble people of Kashmir and prevent the oppression and bullying of Muslims in this region,” he said on social media. His comments were rejected by India’s foreign ministry.
Tehran is notorious for its violations of the human rights of women and minority communities. Significant human rights issues include reports of arbitrary killings by the government, forced disappearances and rise in gender-based violence, according to the US State Department.
A months-long security crackdown killed more than 500 people and saw over 22,000 detained in 2022 during protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini. The Kurdish-Iranian woman died in a hospital after her arrest by the country’s morality police over allegedly not wearing her hijab to the liking of the authorities.
India and Iran signed a 10-year contract in May to develop and operate the Iranian port of Chabahar.
India has been developing the port in Chabahar on Iran‘s south-eastern coast along the Gulf of Oman as a way to transport goods to Iran, Afghanistan and central Asian countries, bypassing the ports of Karachi and Gwadar in its rival Pakistan.