Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Prime Minister, whether he had discussions with prime minister Modi during his visit to India on the issue of (a) Islamophobia and (b) discrimination and violence against Muslims in that country.

The UK is committed to defending freedom of religion or belief for all and promoting respect and tolerance across different religious and non-religious groups. We condemn any instances of discrimination because of religion or belief, regardless of the country or faith involved. We engage with India on a range of human rights matters and where we have concerns, we raise them directly with the Government of India, including at Ministerial level. Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for South Asia, also regularly speaks to the High Commissioner of India, and human rights including freedom of religion or belief forms part of that dialogue.

The British High Commission in New Delhi and our network of Deputy High Commissions will continue to follow reports of violence closely, while recognising that these are matters for India. Our network of High Commissions across India regularly meet religious representatives and have run projects supporting minority rights. Over the last three years, they have worked with local NGOs to bring together young people of diverse faith backgrounds to work together on social action projects in their local communities and promote a culture of inter faith tolerance. For the second year, we are supporting a UK-India Interfaith Leadership Programme for a cohort of emerging Indian leaders of diverse faith backgrounds, including Muslims, creating an opportunity to exchange UK-India experiences on leading modern, inclusive communities.