i'm babita sharma with bbc world news. our top story — donald trump has blamed a slip of the tongue for saying moscow did not meddle in american elections. his statement at the helsinki summit triggered outcry among american politicians, but he has now said he has full faith in the us intelligence services‘ claim of russian interference. the families of the boys trapped in the thai cave are preparing for their homecoming. the boys are expected to be discharged from hospital later on wednesday. and the world's fastest man, usain bolt, has set himself a new goal — it's to become a professional footballer. he's now been offered a trial by the central coast mariners in australia, and hopes to swap the track for the field permanently. that's all. you're up to date. stay with us here on bbc world news. more for me later but first, he is hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. there are growing concerns that

india, the world's most populous democracy, is in the grip of a divisive brand of populism. prime minister narendra modi leads a bjp hindu nationalist government in a country with more than 200 million non—hindu citizens, and there are growing signs of rising communal tension. well, my guest today is india's minister of law and justice, ravi shankar prasad. is india's democracy facing its darkest hour? ravi shankar prasad, welcome to hardtalk.

i want to begin by giving you the words of a former president, pranab mukherjee, who said this very recently, he said it with grave concern in his voice. he said, "any attempt at defining our nationhood in terms of dogma and identities, or religion, region, hatred and intolerance will only lead to the fundamental dilution of our identity as indians", and that is what he fears is happening in your country today. we completely share what he said, we completely believe what he said. you know, the principal standard of governance of the government of narendra modi is, the prime minister, "development of all with the cooperation of all." and the diversity of india cannot be determined in terms of any sectarian ideal. but the problem is you're

not the party of all. you are one of the most seniorfigures in the bjp, you've been a spokesman of the party for years. you are not an all—india political movement. you have 282 bjp mps. not one of them — not one of them — is muslim. first of all, let me clarify. the people of india have supported us. after 30 years, the prime minister was given a complete majority. how many votes did you get from muslims? let me explain. i'll come to that. we have won elections after elections since we came to power, except three — bihar, kerala and bengal, and dheli. -- delhi. therefore, we are here not because of charity, but because of the love, support of the people of india. i do concede with you that muslims in large numbers do not vote for us, for reasons also because of the sinister campaign against us.

no, with respect, they don't vote for you partly because you do not seek their votes. it's quite clear what your politics is about. you are called the hindu nationalist party for a reason, because that is precisely what you are. you are not interested in winning the support, the sympathy, of muslims. and let us not forget there are more than 180 million muslims in your country. we are proud of our heritage! we are proud of our culture! we are proud of our civilisation. that is the core of our ideology, but in india's ideology, the heritage, the respect for each faith is a part of our heritage — that's how we see it. let me explain, please, please, please. let me explain. now, why i'm saying that, when i've already conceded that because of the sharp campaign against us over the years, maybe the percentage of vote is not that. but when we work, we work for all of them. and let me give you...

well, again, let me counter your rhetoric with some reality. it is not rhetoric. it was a statement of fact. this is what i am going to give you is also a statement of fact. here are the words of a bjp politician in karnataka state and of course they have just had regional elections, where the bjp did not perform as well as you had hoped. this is what sanjey patel said during the campaign, he said this election is "not about roads or water or delivery of services. it is a battle of hindus versus muslims." you are not believing a senior minister of the modi government. you don't believe the prime minister. but a stray observation, out of context, by a gentleman to garner votes in his constituency. you are coming as a signpost of bjp. that is unfair. no, i am talking about what is happening in grassroots politics across india today.

the prime minister is very clear, mr sackur, that we are only for development. and people are voting because of development. and they way india is becoming an economic powerhouse, 7.5% growth rate, the way investment is coming in india, the way india is becoming an it tech power is all an affirmation of the trust of the people that they want development. i do not belittle the economic achievements in recent years in india and we will talk about that. i am happy to know that. but i want to begin with this growing sense i am picking up from many senior figures inside india, and observers of india, that there is something deeply worrying happening in terms of sectarianism, communal fear and hate in india today. amnesty international, in a most recent report, just a few weeks old, said that since april 2017 at least ten muslim men have been lynched or killed in public in suspected hate crimes, much of it to do with what is now called "cow or beef vigilantism", which amnesty says, the bjp's campaign for cow protection — let's not forget that

cows being sacred for the hindu religion — the bjp's campaign for cow protection has emboldened vigilante groups who seem to be operating in some cases with the approval of state authorities. i hope you'll allow me to speak now. ok, you have spoken enough. don't make amnesty the benchmark! amnesty‘s attitude towards india on the human rights is full of hostility and discrimination. and let me give you a very concrete example. sunjab bukhari, a great voice of sanity, a great editor, was killed. amnesty was quiet because a terrorist killed him. a proud soldier of the armed forces was killed by the terrorists when he was going to celebrate eid. amnesty keeps quiet. therefore, amnesty‘s record of painting india's human rights by making a conspicuou silence on the rights of victims

of terrorism is wrong. you talk of silence — why is your prime minister, narendra modi, so silent on so many of these communal attacks which have been perpetrated by hindu nationalists? first of all, you are being toojudgemental. many have been convicted — calling all of them hindu nationalist. since you ask about the prime minister, in my presence at a public event, the prime minister once said, "please don't kill them. attack me if you have the courage". that is the extreme style he took. let me tell you, the tolerant nature of hindu society, and for that matter, the entire country, i never condoned these events. some have been done. many have been convicted for life. that is what the rule of law of india is about. well, with respect, in one particular incident, men have been convicted for life. in a host of other incidents nobody — has been convicted at all.

the trial is going on. the police have filed a chargesheet. india believes in the rule of law. if we do it without a fair trial, then you will say india has become a different country. the point is there is a robust legal mechanism in the country whereby those who take law into their own hands for reasons such as completely unacceptable, the law responds very ferociously. you are law and justice minister, so let's get to the details of the cases recently, which have raised serious questions about the attitude, the strategy, the policy of the bjp. look at what happened after the most atrocious crime, the rape of an eight—year—old muslim girl in northern india. she was called asifa. according to the police evidence, she was drugged, she was repeatedly raped by a group of hindu men. she was actually held in a temple for a while before she was killed. now, as shocking as that crime was, within days and weeks, it had become the source of communal tensions because local bjp officials sided with the hindu population, who claimed that this was somehow an attack upon their rights, not the rights of the murdered girl. this instance — prompt action has been taken, charge sheet has been filed,

and the two gentleman you are talking about, we have made to resign from their ministerial post. were you disgusted that your own party has individuals within it who can make that kind of argument? it was a clear disapproval. but the story you have presented is not entirely the correct story. the police charge sheet has been filed. as the law minister, i would not like to make any comment except to flag you one thing. how we are treating rapes. rape anywhere is unfortunate, in india or america. we have come with a robust law. now, we are giving capital punishment if you rape a child below 12 years of age. if it is to a 16—year—old, it is 20 years. in recent years, your government has said that it is committed

to protecting women. the fact is that india is the most dangerous country in the world to be a woman today, and that's not my rhetoric. that is the considered conclusion of a global survey of 550 experts conducted by thomson reuters. yes. the most dangerous country in the world. yes, in a world of this size, only 548 samples. hearing a report of 548 samples, commissioned by the european commission. what does it say? 70% of respondents felt that sexual harassment against women is common in their country. here is a report on sexual offending on women in england and wales of 2013, which says 85% of the victims are not reporting. in india, and this is not my view, again it's the people who study these things inside your own country. in india, sexual violence has become part a toxic cocktail, which involes religious hate, caste and class resentment and hate, and gender violence. let me quote to you kavita krishnan from the all india progressive women's association...

the communist party, mind you, not neutral. i thought you were doing well. you are saying responsible people. you're surely not suggesting that a woman who works for the all india progressive women's association isn't entitled to a political view?! surely, but they have an agenda against our government. that's what i am saying. if i may, this is what this woman, who works for the women's association says, she says, "the ruling party has to be held responsible for creating an islamophobia. that is an agenda! hang on. and an anti—dalit climate, which justifies acts of sexual violence and violence against minorities. now, let me reply. i'm happy. please, give me some time. the communist party of india has been defeated in elections after election. it has become notjust marginalised, but a super marginalised party. they bring out these reports, which mollify against my government. 49 senior retired civil servants

recently wrote an open letter to your prime minister accusing him, and these are civil servants, of fomenting a frightening climate of hate, fear and viciousness in india. they said, "in our country's post independent history, this is our darkest hour." my reply to it is, out of 90% of the civil servants are those who in 2014 appealed to the people of india not to vote for narendra modi. and that is the democracy of india. i can quote you 200 civil servants who are saying mr modi is leading the country in a decisive, transparent way, no corruption and good decision making. let me quote to you a senior lawyer. because you're a lawyer yourself. you are an advocate of the supreme court. a lawyer at the supreme court, dushyant dave, he says "the government can make 100 laws and yet it will fail because there is no enforcement." your legal system

is in dire trouble. there are 55,000 pending cases before the supreme court alone. india hasjust18judges for every! million people. that's pathetic compared to most countries in the world. over two thirds of india's hundreds of thousands of prisoners are still awaiting trial. there is a deep dysfunction at the heart of your criminal justice system and you, as minister, are failing to fix it. what we are doing is that we are improving digital technology for more delivery ofjustice. do you acknowledge my characterisation that your system is in crisis? i'm acknowledging it and we are also fixing it. we increase the number ofjudges, increase the number of infrastructure, we have already done 16,000 districts of india as digital, all the high courts are digital, we have got a proper judicial data grid, nearly 60 million cases and we are fixing it. why would indians believe you can deliver when 42% of respondents claim that they were asked to pay bribes within the court system and another survey shows that after your government told

parliament that police strength was going to be increased by up to nearly 2 million officers, almost a quarter of police positions were found to be vacant. first of all, what we are doing, you are thinking that asjustice minister, i do all the states. unlike england, india is a federal state and we have state governments which are not of my party. so you are powerless to fix this system? i'm not powerless, allow me to compete my sentence, that is not fair. what we are doing is giving them infrastructure in terms of logistics and training. the prime minister calls the data police himself. these are the areas of challenges you have to address. but how do you say india has become completely dysfunctional? i've gone through every level, from the backlog in the courts

to the corruption in the judicial system to the failure to appoint police as promised. those are dysfunctionalities. let me add one more, the supreme court itself, you know because you are a lawyer, it is in crisis because four of the seniorjudges on the supreme court bench expressed lack of confidence in the chief justice himself. the court is at war with itself and one of the justices warned that unless the integrity of the supreme court was restored, quote, "democracy will not survive in this country." we are making an all—round effort to ensure greater modernisation of the police force. the government of india, forces and all the state governments including money, training, cyber security and in the case of women, we have set a fast—tracked board for all the cases against them. as law and justice minister, i'm supposed to get the infrastructure. we have already repealed about 1m000 old archaic laws

of the british time.. our system of delivery in terms of digital examination of people is faster. with the supreme court, i have to make two observations. i would only say we trust the supreme court to decide differences, differences happen in the american supreme court and your supreme court. your supreme court is at war with itself. is that not worrying to you as the minister? as the minister, i should not make any public comment that my supreme court is at war. there are differences. many of the most seniorjustices on the supreme court bench do not believe in the integrity and independence of the chief justice. that is an unfair criticism of the chiefjustice. only three days ago, he has given a stern judgement against our government, our indian government.

the indianjudiciary is as free as it could be. i'm very proud of ourjudiciary. we have suffered for the cause of indian independence. that is our commitment and that remains firm. politicisation by political parties of the judicial divide is not fair and those who have lost elections cannot be sponsoring certification to create chaos. two things i would like to flag. i want to move to the bigger political picture butjust one last question on questions of law and justice, and this is specific to kashmir. you're the federal minister of law and justice. i wonder how you respond to the un's call for an international investigation of government abuses, military and policing abuses, security forces in jammu and kashmir over the last couple of years, because according to the latest un report, from the un commissioner of human rights, indian security forces have been using excessive force, they've killed and wounded numerous civilians and he says it's time bring international inquiry.

that report is a collusive report by a gentleman of questionable integrity and i'm using all these words with full sense of responsibility. this gentleman has an agenda. i repeat, this gentlemen‘s report is nullified. and in the un we have already protested. i take that as no. the indian government is not interested. we reject it because it has nullified it. the author of the report has an agenda against india, today i can tell you, kashmiri elections or not, today, the kashmiri people arejoining armed forces in a big way. they arejoining police. they are doing well in sports. pakistan from across the border has a terrorist agenda to create disorder there. do you think the bjp is trusted by the population ofjammu in kashmir?

mr sackur, wejust had wonderful support of jammu kashmir. we swept the entire jammu and ladakh area. problem there? how many people voted? come on! it was a massive voting, free and fair election! you made a point of referring to the growth rate of 7%, claiming big success in the economy. why is it that so many indians appear to believe that narendra modi's promises from 2014 have not been kept? his own popularity and that of the bjp is in serious decline. if everything is a success, why is that? india is a free country. we have won in gudjarat fifth time. we missed only by four seats in karnata ka. we swept up, we swept himachal pradesh, we swept the entire north—east.

but i put it to you that your promises. haven't been kept. look at the situation in rural areas. your support amongst farming communities is draining away. farers were made promises in 2014 that haven't been kept. on one other issue, corruption. modi came to power swearing he would root out corruption, hasn't happened. every survey tells us that india is endemically corrupt. i can proudly say to you on bbc hardtalk, in the later last four years in power, all the decision—making has been made fair, honest, no allegation of corruption, the decision of the modi government. there is call for improvement. there is clearly corruption at every level of the public service in india today. if something is happening in bengal, you cannot attribute that to us. what i'm saying is we are putting system in place. give me one time, half a minute.

by application of digital technology, we are ushering in transparency. what about the transferring? by direct debit transfers to the poor, we have saved close to $13 billion to be pocketed by fictitious claimants. 120 million poor indians have been given nearly 60,000 trillion rupees for their improvement. for business. why are the poor farmers in india so certain that you have betrayed them? that is your assessment. i look at all the polls, farmers deserting modi at an alarming rate, one indian newspaper report. karnataka has a huge number of farmers. so does gujarat. so has uttar pradesh, so has himachal pradesh, so has north—east. i am only talking of elections in the last 1.5 years, which we have won decisively, including two—thirds majority, including an area we didn't

have much support. a lot of indians appear to have lost faith in your government. you tell me all the results suggest it's not true. i look at the polling evidence. you will look to the survey, mr sackur, but not the popular franchise in the election by people of the people in the states. i leave it to you to judge. are you forgetting all those parliamentary by—elections the bjp did? what about four, five, the others? please be a little objective. i would suggest there is something profoundly alarming, and i want to end the interview with these words, profoundly alarming when a former foreign minister serving mr modi and the bjp government announces that, quote, democracy in india today is in grave danger. yashwant sinha. that is third time i'm hearing his name on hardtalk. you can go beyond yashwant sinha. do you not care a former senior minister says this.... let me finish the thought, you can tell me what you think.

the events of the last four years have caused great anxiety. "after working for this governemnt, i realised," this is the key bit, "we were replacing facts with fiction and peddling lies. "subverting the institutions of democracy." i differ for him for the simple reason, for yashwant sinha, issues are also personal, he resigned from my party. i don't wish to join issue. because he was disgusted. disgust is not primarily political, it can be personal too, mr sackur. let's leave it at that. why i am saying so? please see the totality of india with mr modi as the global leader. respected from queen elizabeth to he whole of europe, to others, because of democracy, performance and good governance. today, mr modi's voice is heard on the issue of climate change and sustainable development and climate justice. why won't you see that emerging

global profile of india? ravi shankar prasad, we have to end it there but i thank you very much for being on hardtalk. thank you, thank you. hello there. well, depending on how you look at it, some lucky gardens have received some rainfall on monday and tuesday, but the vast majority of the country on tuesday was dry with plenty of sunshine around, some glorious sunset scenes up and down the country. there were a few heavy showers around across northern scotland, this is a weather watchers view looking out off the coast of peterhead, with some downpours there cross the water. these showers will continue to fizzle out during the early part of wednesday and then, generally speaking, most places

will end up being dry first thing — variable cloud, some clear spells and quite a warm one across southern areas, but across scotland and northern england, a few chilly spots. certainly out to towns and cities. to wednesday, starting off on a larger dry note and for most places it will be a dry afternoon as well. shower clouds will bubble up across northern and western areas, and like tuesday some of the heaviest ones could be across parts of scotland. maybe in the north and the south, a risk of seeing thundery downpours. maybe a few showers for northern ireland and a few as well across western england into wales, but the vast majority will be dry. plenty of sunny spells with light winds. it is going to feel a little bit warmer than it did on tuesday. across england and wales, 23 to 26 celsius in the south—east, closer to 18—21 celsius for scotland and northern ireland. 0n into thursday, a dry day, good spells of sunshine and it is going to feel a bit warmer, but more of a breeze and cloud picking up across scotland and

northern ireland ahead of this weather front, which will be slowly moving south eastwards. notice the deep orange colours building in england and wales, temperatures will be significantly higher than at the start of the week, with perhaps one or two places in the south—east totalling 29 or 30 celcius. this is the weather system i was talking about. a tangle of weather fronts mixed in with it, it will bring more cloud, outbreaks of rain to the north—west slowly sinking its way south eastwards, but it will be a weakening feature. more cloud across the northern half of the country with outbreaks of patchy rain into northern england and wales, weakening as it does so, but then we could see maybe a few heavy showers moving to the south—east from the near continent — some of these could be thundery, keep tuned into the forecast. quite warm in the south, fresher across the north, 18—20 degrees. that weather front, a weakening feature continues to move southwards, generally speaking for the weekend it's high—pressure exerting itself. most places dry with a few patches of rain around and there should be plenty of sunshine

around once again. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: president trump backtracks on his comments about russia. just a slip of the tongue, he now says. the sentence should have been "i don't see any reason why it wouldn't be russia", sort of a double negative. with the boys from the thai cave about to be released from hospital, a mural thanking their rescuers is revealed. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: shocking footage of another aboriginal death in custody. a court sees video of the victim pinned down and unable to breathe.