India's Modi Government Faces Heat as Taliban Foreign Minister Holds Women-Free Press Event in New Delhi
✍️ Written by Saket Suman
A press conference by Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in New Delhi on Friday is drawing sharp scrutiny for barring women journalists, who were not permitted to attend the event, held at the Afghan Embassy just hours after Muttaqi met with India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
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| The media interaction was restricted to a select group of male reporters. Image Source: Hafiz Zia Ahmed |
The media interaction was restricted to a select group of male reporters, in apparent adherence to the Taliban’s gender-exclusionary norms. People familiar with the matter said the list of invitees was prepared by Taliban officials, and not by Indian authorities.
According to some sources, the Indian side had suggested that women reporters also be included, but the recommendation was not heeded.
The exclusion has sparked strong domestic criticism. Former Union home minister P. Chidambaram called the incident “shocking,” and argued that male journalists present at the event should have walked out in solidarity with their female colleagues.
“I am shocked that women journalists were excluded… the men journalists should have walked out,” he posted on X.
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.
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) October 11, 2025
If your recognition of women’s rights isn’t just convenient posturing from one election to…
Indian Opposition leader and MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, in a direct appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asked whether his government’s endorsement of women’s rights was “just convenient posturing from one election to the other.”
She demanded a public clarification: “If your recognition of women’s rights isn’t just convenient posturing… how has this insult to some of India’s most competent women been allowed in our country, a country whose women are its backbone and its pride?”
TMC MP Mahua Moitra was more blunt, accusing the government of compromising India’s values: “The govt has dishonoured every single Indian woman by allowing the Taliban minister to exclude women journalists from the presser. Shameful bunch of spineless hypocrites,” she wrote.
Govt has dishonoured every single Indian woman by allowing Taliban minister to exclude women journalists from presser. Shameful bunch of spineless hypocrites. pic.twitter.com/xxnqofS6ob
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) October 10, 2025
The optics of the exclusion are particularly scary against the backdrop of the Taliban’s ongoing global condemnation for curbing women’s rights in Afghanistan. Since the group's return to power in August 2021, women have been banned from secondary education, many forms of employment, and public life.
The United Nations and human rights groups have repeatedly denounced what they describe as “gender apartheid.”
When asked directly about the condition of Afghan women, Muttaqi sidestepped the question. “Every country has its own customs, laws and principles, and there should be respect for them,” he said.
He defended his government’s actions by claiming that Afghanistan was now more peaceful than it had been before the Taliban's takeover, citing daily casualties of “200 to 400 people” under the previous regime, a figure he did not substantiate.
“In these four years, there have been no such losses. Laws are in force and everyone has their rights,” he said, dismissing concerns as “propaganda.”
While asserting that “peace” has returned to Afghanistan, Muttaqi offered no direct response to the absence of women in the room, instead characterizing the Taliban’s governance model as legitimate and rooted in Afghan values.
“It is not correct that people are not given their rights. If people were not happy with the system and the laws, why has peace returned?” he asked.
But the staging of a press conference without women in the heart of India’s capital city--especially following high-level bilateral talks--has placed the Modi government under an uncomfortable spotlight.
It also raises questions about the boundaries of diplomatic courtesy, and whether core Indian values around gender inclusion can--or should--be compromised in pursuit of geopolitical stability in the region.
For a government that has repeatedly branded itself as a champion of “Nari Shakti” (women power), the decision to host a Taliban minister while enabling his gender-exclusive media interaction has exposed an apparent contradiction. Whether the Indian side’s internal objections were sufficient--or whether stronger action was warranted--remains a matter of public debate.
This moment has also served as a brutal mirror to the current state of Indian journalism. The silent compliance of male journalists--those who sat through the press conference without questioning the exclusion of their women colleagues--was an ethical collapse.
In a media landscape increasingly compromised by monopolistic control and proximity to power, the loudest voices often belong to the least deserving.
Mediocrities with little to no grounding in journalism now dominate airwaves and opinion pages, draping press releases in the illusion of journalism, outsourcing both research and writing to artificial intelligence tools while borrowing legitimacy from political and corporate patrons.
Even more damning is the Ministry of External Affairs’ continued tolerance of its own representatives who appear more invested in personal vanity projects than in upholding India’s diplomatic principles.
One such official--tasked with promoting Indian culture abroad--has repeatedly misused his position to amplify his self-styled identity as an artist and writer. He is neither. What he is, is a government employee paid by Indian taxpayers, accountable to the people of India.
His audacity of using his credentials to further his reach are in line with the falling standards in Indian writing too but if the foreign minister Jaishankar ever feels the need for bliss in a moment of loss, he should pick up Vikram Seth's translation of the Hanuman Chalisa.
If one of his diplomats was so god-damn interested in popularizing the ancient Indian wisdom, it should not have come with a price tag of INR 259 when similar versions are made available to the public by social welfare groups costing less than INR 10 and often distributed for free. He is in direct violation of a series of Code of Conducts over the past year, at least.
Indian diplomats have written a number of books on statecraft, diplomacy; penned poetry, memoirs, novels, and have translated Indian classics. On the 79th Indian Foreign Service Day today, here is a list of rich legacy of their writings https://t.co/tq7r361a8d Happy #IFSDay! pic.twitter.com/1RwCqoMBWK
— Abhay K. (@theabhayk) October 9, 2025
That the MEA has failed to curb such blatant overreach is a symptom of its broader derailment--where institutional responsibility has been sacrificed at the altar of individual branding. This latest episode is the culmination of a pattern--and the silence from within speaks volumes.