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| Barack Obama: India will succeed if not splintered over religion |
In what is being seen in some quarters as a parting shot at the Narendra Modi government, in the wake of domestic controversies over religious freedom and reconversion in India in the past few months, US President Barack Obama on Tuesday talked tough on religious tolerance, saying India will succeed as long as it is not “splintered” over religious lines. He spoke about the values of democracy that is common to both countries, and also the values of religious freedom and equality that are a vital part of the Constitutions of both nations. The US President added that “diversity” was, in fact, the strength of both nations.
The Modi government has been facing a lot of heat from the Opposition in Parliament in the past few months over these controversies. Congress leader Digvijay Singh got into action swiftly on Tuesday and took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wondering if he would advise his “friends” in the Sangh Parivar to stop justifying the “Ghar Wapsi” (reconversion) programme.
Speaking on “India and America: The Future We Can Build Together” at New Delhi’s Siri Fort Auditorium, the US President said: “Every person has the right to practise his faith without any persecution, fear or discrimination. India will succeed so long it is not splintered on religious lines,” Mr Obama told the audience that included a lot of young people in his 30-minute speech. The US President’s comments came in the backdrop of multiple controversies in India over religious conversions and the “Ghar Wapsi” programme by right-wing Hindutva outfits. President Obama also cited Article 25 of India’s Constitution, that deals with the right to freedom of religion, noting that freedom of religion was an integral part of the US Constitution as well.
“Your (Constitution) Article 25 says all people are equally entitled to the freedom of conscience and have right to freely profess, practise and propagate religion. In both our countries, in all countries... upholding freedom of religion is the utmost responsibility of the government, but also the responsibility of every person,” he said. “We have to guard against any efforts to divide us on sectarian lines or any other thing,” he said. He also said there were people belonging to all faiths in both countries.
President Obama further said no society is immune from the “darkest impulses of man”, and that religion has sometimes been used to tap into it. He recounted an incident that occurred three years ago in Wisconsin (US), where a man went into a Sikh gurdwara and “in a terrible act of violence” killed six innocent people, including both American and Indians. “In that moment of shared grief, the two countries reaffirmed the basic truth that we must again today. Every person has a right to practise the faith that they choose and to practise no faith at all, and to do so free of persecution, fear or discrimination,” he said.
In his speech, attended by young students, scholars and others, Mr Obama said such a proposition holds much importance in India. “Nowhere is it more important than in India. Nowhere is it going to be more necessary for that foundational value to be upheld,” he said.
Underlining the factors that unify both countries, President Obama said “our diversity is our strength” and warned that both India and the US had to be on their guard against divisive efforts along sectarian lines or any other lines. “If we do that well and if America shows itself as an example of its diversity and the capacity to live and work together in common effort and common purpose, and if India, as massive as it is with so much diversity, so many differences, is able to continuously reaffirm its democracy, that is an example for every other country. That’s what makes us world leaders... Not just the size of our economies or the number of weapons we have but our ability to show the way and how we work together,” he said.
The US President referred to prominent Indians belonging to different faiths like actor Shah Rukh Khan, sports icons like Milkha Singh and Mary Kom, and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi (who was in the select audience at Siri Fort on Tuesday) to make a point that courage and humanitarian values unify both nations. He also dwelt at some length on the message that Swami Vivekananda had carried to his (Obama’s) home town, Chicago, 100 years ago at the Parliament of Religions.
“By what Dr King (Martin Luther King Jr) called content of our character rather than the colour of our skin or the manner in which we worship our God. In both our countries, in India and America, our diversity is our strength,” he said.
Recalling his own experiences earlier in the US, President Obama said while he has had extraordinary opportunities, “there were moments in my life where I’ve been treated differently because of the colour of my skin”. Mentioning the Christian faith of both himself and wife Michelle, the US President in a reference to false rumours that he was a Muslim said: “There have been times where my faith has at times been questioned by people who don’t know me, or they’ve said that I adhere to a different religion, as if that were somehow a bad thing.” He added: “The peace we seek in the world begins in the human heart.”
In a swift reaction, Congress leader Digvijay Singh tweeted: “Would Modi take his friend Barack’s advice and ask his friends in the VHP to shut up and request (RSS chief) Mohan Bhagwat to stop justifying ‘Ghar Vapsi’?” The Congress leader reportedly thanked Mr Obama for “speaking up for the Indian Citizen’s Rights to Profess Practice and Propagate his Religious Belief”.
Meanwhile, President Obama also referred to the principle of equality and equal opportunities for all, pointing out that his own grandfather had been a cook with the British Army in Kenya. In a reference to the architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, and also Prime Minister Modi, he said it was this equality through which a dalit could write the Indian Constitution and a tea-seller could become Prime Minister. The US President noted that both he and his wife Michelle did not come from wealthy families, and what they had achieved had been due to the education they received with the help of scholarships and opportunities that were made available to them.
The US President also made a strong pitch for women’s empowerment, saying that nations were more successful when their women were more successful. He also pointed to the “incredible women (officers) in the (Indian) armed forces”. President Obama referred to the woman IAF officer who had led the guard of honour for him at Rashtrapati Bhavan. This year’s Republic Day parade had all-woman officers’ contingents from the three services marching down Rajpath.
He also referred to a 16-year-old boy Vishal, whom he had first met at Humayun’s Tomb during his previous visit in 2010, and said the boy’s dreams were as important as the dreams of his (President Obama’s) own daughters Sasha and Malia. He added that all young people should have the chance to pursue their dreams.
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