Days after a Wall Street Journal reporter was trolled online for asking prime minister Narendra Modi about free speech and rights of religious minorities at a press conference with US president Joe Biden last week, the White House has strongly condemned her harassment and termed it “unacceptable” and “antithetical to democracy”.
The Asian-origin American reporter, Sabrina Siddiqui, had asked the prime minister about the steps his government was taking to “improve the rights of Muslims and other minorities” in India and “to uphold free speech”. Siddiqui was trolled, with many alleging an ulterior motive behind her question and attacking her Muslim identity.
