Indian opposition leaders have criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Taliban barred female journalists from attending a press conference by Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in New Delhi.
They called the incident an insult to Indian women and a test of the Indian government’s commitment to gender equality.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a member of the Lok Sabha, urged Modi on Saturday to clarify his position on the exclusion of women journalists, asking why the Taliban were allowed to “insult some of India’s most accomplished women.”
In a post on X addressed to the prime minister, Gandhi Vadra said that if Modi’s support for women’s rights was not “an election gimmick,” he must explain how such an incident was permitted to occur in India. She added that women are the “backbone and pride of India.”
Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the opposition, also condemned the prime minister’s silence, accusing him of failing to defend Indian women from discrimination. He wrote on X that by allowing the Taliban to exclude female journalists, Modi was effectively signalling that Indian women were “too weak to be defended.”
Gandhi said the prime minister’s silence revealed the “emptiness” of his slogans about women’s empowerment, adding that women in India have “the right to be equally present in every field.”
The controversy erupted after the Taliban’s embassy in New Delhi barred female journalists from attending Muttaqi’s press conference on Thursday, 10 October. Several major outlets, including India Today and Times Now, had received invitations to cover the event, but embassy security refused entry to women reporters.
The decision has sparked widespread outrage across Indian media. Prominent journalists and commentators have called on the government to respond, with one CNN-News18 reporter describing the silence of Indian authorities as “deeply concerning.”
Muttaqi, who is on a six-day visit to India, attended the briefing as part of a diplomatic tour aimed at strengthening ties between Kabul and New Delhi.