Jaishankar rejects Biden’s ‘xenophobic’ label, says India is open, welcoming

India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar has rejected recent remarks by US President Joe Biden describing India as “xenophobic” and emphasised that the country has been open and welcoming to people from diverse societies.
Jaishankar also refuted the allegation that the Indian economy was faltering. Union minister said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) introduced by PM Narendra Modi-led govt showcases India’s welcoming approach.
On April 2, Biden had said the “xenophobic” nature of India, China, Japan and Russia is responsible for their economic troubles and argued that America’s economy is growing because it welcomes immigrants to its soil. He made the statement while campaigning for his re-election at Washington fundraising event and argued that Japan, along with Russia and China, would perform better economically if the countries embraced immigration more.
“Why? Because we welcome immigrants. We look to - the reason - look, think about it. Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants,” Biden said.
EAM said, “First of all, our economy is not faltering.”
“India is always... India has been a very unique country... I would say actually, in the history of the world, that it's been a society which has been very open... different people from different societies come to India,” he said.
He said, “That’s why we have the CAA, which is to open up doors for people who are in trouble... I think we should be open to people who have the need to come to India, who have a claim to come to India.”