India: Minorities

Lord Harries of Pentregarth Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd July 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of India about the position of minorities in that country.

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Baroness Chapman of Darlington) (Lab)]

My Lords, India is a multifaith, multi-ethnic and multilingual democracy, and it remains among the most diverse societies in the world. It is home to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians and several other religions. India should be proud of this diversity. The UK maintains a broad, deep and respectful partnership with India, which includes dialogue on human rights and minority issues. The British high commission in New Delhi, along with our wider network across India, monitors the human rights situation and engages with government and civil society stakeholders. Where concerns arise, we raise them directly with Indian counterparts.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth (CB)]

I thank the Minister for her reply. As she said, India is one of the great democracies of the world, and it is even more sad that the present Government are so repressive of a range of minorities, so that even academics, if they speak up against the Government, find themselves oppressed. I particularly draw the Minister’s attention to the adivasi community, whose traditional tribal lands are now heavily militarised. For example, in the Bastar region of the state of Chhattisgarh, there are armed encampments all along the main roads and, for every nine civilians, there is one armed guard, leading inevitably to human rights abuses and the imprisonment of innocent protesters. What steps are the Government taking to make representations to the Indian Government about the adivasi community in particular?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I thank the noble and right reverend Lord for bringing our attention to this. It is an important issue and he is right to raise it. We have our network across India and will raise issues such as those that he mentions. We keep a close eye on human rights in India. Human rights are of course universal and, whatever the nature of our relationship with any Government, we are not afraid to raise issues as and when we need to.