Overview
- Sonia Gandhi presented the 2024 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development to former Chilean president and ex-UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet in Delhi in mid-November.
- BJP leaders, including Amit Malviya, condemned the choice and portrayed Bachelet as promoting an anti-India narrative during her UN tenure.
- As UN human rights chief in 2019, Bachelet voiced concern over restrictions and detentions in Jammu and Kashmir following the Article 370 move, and in 2020 the OHCHR sought third-party status in a Supreme Court challenge to the CAA.
- The Indian government rejected OHCHR’s involvement in the CAA case, asserting it was an internal matter and that foreign entities lacked locus standi.
- The Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, chaired by Sonia Gandhi, administers the award; ThePrint lists a jury that includes Shivshankar Menon, while social-media claims that he led the selection remain unverified.