New Delhi: India’s opposition Congress party criticised the Narendra Modi government on Saturday over the absence of women journalists from a press conference addressed by visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asking the prime minister to clarify his position on the matter.

“Mr Modi, when you allow the exclusion of women journalists from a public forum, you are telling every woman in India that you are too weak to stand up for them. In our country, women have the right to equal participation in every space.

“Your silence in the face of such discrimination exposes the emptiness of your slogans on Nari Shakti,” Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said in a post on X.

Mr Gandhi’s post followed Priyanka Vadra’s earlier message, in which she asked whether the prime minister’s recognition of women’s rights was “just convenient posturing from one election to another”, and questioned how such an “insult to some of India’s most competent women” could have been permitted.

“Prime Minister @narendramodi ji, please clarify your position on the removal of female journalists from the press conference of the representative of the Taliban on his visit to India,” she said on X.

The press conference, addressed by the Afghan foreign minister on Friday was restricted to a limited group of male journalists, with women reporters conspicuously absent.

Mr Muttaqi held the interaction at the Afghan embassy in New Delhi, hours after holding wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

Taliban decision

While there has been no official comment from the government of India, it is learnt that the decision on media invitations was taken by Taliban officials accompanying the visiting minister.

Sources said the Indian side had suggested to the Afghan delegation that women journalists be included among the invitees.

“(Tali)ban on female journalists in India. Shocking and unacceptable that the govt of India agreed to it — and that too in New Delhi on the eve of the Inter­na­ti­onal Day of the Girl Child,” Con­g­ress communications chief Jai­ram Ramesh said in a post on X.

Former finance minister P. Chidambaram, expressing his personal view, said: “The men journalists should have walked out when they found that their women colleagues were excluded (or not invited).”

Communist Party of India general secretary D. Raja, tagging External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in his X post, asked: “Was it just Taliban misogyny or a tacit endorsement of it on Indian soil? The Republic of India is built on equality. We are the nation which gave women voting rights from day one, when many Western countries lagged behind.

“To allow such exclusion here is blasphemy to our constitutional spirit.”

Mr Raja urged the ministry of external affairs to explain how it agreed to “permit this discriminatory spectacle”. “This is not a diplomatic nuance. This is nourishment to patriarchal ideology that wants to erase half the world from public life. We must call it out, without hesitation,” he added.

The high-profile visit has stirred strong reactions, including from Pakistan. Mr Jaishankar used the visit to push India’s agenda in Kabul.

While the countries have a common commitment towards growth and prosperity, Mr Jaishankar told Mr Muttaqi: “These are endangered by the shared threat of cross-border terrorism that both our nations face. We must coordinate efforts to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We appreciate your sensitivity towards India’s security concerns.

“Your solidarity with us in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terrorist attack was noteworthy. India is fully committed to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Afghan­is­tan. Closer cooperation between us contributes to your national development, as well as regional stability and resilience. To enha­nce that, I am pleased to anno­u­nce today the upgrading of India’s technical mission in Kabul to the status of embassy of India.”