SEATTLE — The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is awarding India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the work he's doing to improve sanitation in his country, but the international prize is sparking outrage.
This past Sunday, protesters stood in front of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with signs that read "Toilets will never erase torture."
"We have protested. We have been protesting and requesting the Gates Foundation to rescind this award," said Javed Sikander of Redmond.
Sikander grew up in India and is a former Microsoft employee. He said he admires the work the Gates Foundation does, but he takes issue with the decision to honor Prime Minister Modi with an award.
Prime Minister Modi’s Clean India Mission promotes toilet access across a country that's been plagued with a persistent sanitation problem.
But Sikander said the Prime Minister is “a leader who has been oppressing his own people."
Sikander said petitions have poured in with 100,000 signatures urging Gates to not award Modi because he undermines human rights and incites violence against minorities. Sikander added that the government in India is currently imposing a communication blackout in Kashmir.
“For 50 days there has been no phones. All the landlines, as well as the cellular phones and the internet, has been completely blocked," Sikander explained.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation released the following statement:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is receiving an award at the Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the progress India is making in improving sanitation, as part of its drive toward achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Sanitation is a key factor in improving the health and well-being of millions of people, especially women and children.
Globally, sanitation-related diseases kill nearly 500,000 children under the age of 5 every year. Yet despite its importance, sanitation has not received significant attention. A lot of governments are not willing to talk about it, in part because there are not easy solutions. Before the Swachh Bharat mission, over 500 million people in India did not have access to safe sanitation, and now, the majority do. There is still a long way to go, but the impacts of access to sanitation in India are already being realized. The Swachh Bharat Mission can serve as a model for other countries around the world that urgently need to improve access to sanitation for the world’s poorest.
Prime Minister Modi recognized and thanked The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Twitter for the honor, but did not respond to critics.