India Needs to Cherish and Nurture Its Muslim Population: Obama

Obama was in New Delhi to address a Town Hall as well as to attend the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.

Former US President Barack Obama at the HT Leadership Summit. (Photo: AP)

As India stands divided over religious intolerance, Former US President Barack Obama said he had “privately” told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India must not split on sectarian lines and that it must cherish the fact that Muslims here identify themselves as Indians.

It’s remarkable that the large Muslim population (in India) see itself as Indian, which needs to be cherished. In other countries, there are minorities who don’t view themselves as part of the nation.

The former president was speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi. He later addressed a Town Hall organised by his Obama Foundation.

Asked how Modi responded to his message on religious tolerance, particularly in the wake of Western media highlighting incidents of lynching in the name of cow protection and love jihad cases, Obama dodged a direct reply, saying his goal was not to disclose his private conversations with other leaders.

Obama also met with Modi during this visit.

Obama was the first US president to visit India twice during his time in office. He had earlier visited in 2010 when Manmohan Singh was the prime minister, and then in 2015 when he became the first US president to take part as the chief guest in the Republic Day celebrations.

(With inputs from PTI and IANS.)