New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has questioned former US President Barack Obama’s remarks about human rights issues in India during PM Modi’s recent visit to the US, accusing the American politician of “bombing six Muslim countries” when he was in power.
This comes a day after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma caused a stir with his “Hussain Obama” tweet in which he criticised the former US President’s remarks on protection of ethnic minorities and Muslims in India.
Speaking at a press conference Sunday, the Indian finance minister said, “When PM Modi was visiting the US, a former President of the US spoke about Indian Muslims”.
“We want friendship with the US but there, too, we get remarks about religious freedom in India. A former President — under whose rule six countries with a dominant Muslim population were bombed with more than 26,000 bombs — how will people trust his allegations?” she added, citing Syria, Yemen and Iraq as examples.
During PM Modi’s recently concluded visit to the US, Obama, in an interview with CNN, said if the Indian government doesn’t protect the rights of minorities in India, the country could “start pulling apart”.
He had also described the issue as “worth mentioning” during US President Joe Biden’s bilateral talks with Modi.
“If I had a conversation with Prime Minister Modi, who I know well, part of my argument would be that if you don’t protect the rights of ethnic minorities in India, there is a strong possibility that India would at some point start pulling apart,” Obama said.
Obama served two terms as US President from 2009-2017. In September 2014, Modi made his maiden visit to the US as prime minister at the invitation of Obama. In 2015, Obama visited India as “Chief Guest” at the Republic Day celebrations and the following year, Obama hosted the PM twice in the US.
Criticism of Rahul Gandhi
During the press conference, the finance minister also lashed out at the opposition in India, including Congress’ Rahul Gandhi.
“When opposition leaders go out of the country, they do not keep the interests of India in mind. They aren’t able to defeat PM Modi and that’s why they raise such issues,” she said. “I find this a deliberate attempt to vitiate the atmosphere in this country because they think they cannot win against the developmental policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
Earlier this month, ahead of PM Modi’s visit to the US, Gandhi travelled to the country for six days during which he held a “truck yatra” from California to New York via Washington in a call for an inclusive India.
During his visit, he repeatedly criticised the BJP government, including at a diaspora event where he referred to Modi as a “specimen” of a group of people who think they know more than God.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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