Saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a vision for India, former US President Barack Obama Friday said he was of the opinion that Modi “believes in unity of India”.
Obama also met Modi later. This was the first meeting between the two leaders after Obama left the White House in January.
The former President also talked fondly of Modi’s predecessor Manmohan Singh, who, he said, had laid the foundation of the modern Indian economy.
“I like him (Modi). I think he has a vision for the country… I was also great friends with Dr Manmohan Singh. He laid the foundation of the modern Indian economy. The unifying theme in both these leaders during my tenure was the focus on India-US relations,” he said while speaking at a summit organised by a media house.
Saying that politicians often mirror society and the people of India can strengthen the hands of politicians by speaking out against divisive forces, the former US president said he had raised the issue of religious freedoms in a private conversation with Modi.
He, however, refused to share Modi’s response to him, only saying, “I think his impulses are to recognise the importance of Indian unity. I know that he firmly believes in the need for that in order to advance to the great nation status that India possesses and will continue to amplify in the years to come.”
He also underlined the need for India to cherish and nurture its Muslim population, which, he said “is integrated and considers itself Indian”.
“That is unfortunately not always the case in some other countries. And that is something that needs to be cherished and nurtured, cultivated. It’s important to continue reinforcing it,” he asserted.
Asking the citizens to speak out against divisive forces, Obama said in democracies like India and the US, the “office of citizen” was the “most important office”.
“It is the responsibility of everyone to speak out against divisive forces and to reinforce such views… Politicians, on the other hand, rarely get too far ahead of public opinion, and often reflect the views of society… So if you see a politician doing things that are questionable, one of the things is to ask yourself, ‘Am I encouraging or supporting or giving licence to the values that I am hearing out of the politician?’ Because frankly, politicians tend to be more of a mirror, and more of a reflection of forces in society,” Obama said.
He said that if “communities across India” say they won’t fall prey to division, it will “strengthen the hand of those politicians who feel the same way”.
Saying that democracy was under threat today, Obama said “a partnership between the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy is the key… The Internet has the ability to propagate propaganda that is destructive to democracies…. The distinction between us and them is dangerous.”
Talking about Pakistan’s role in spearing terrorism, the former President said, “We had no evidence that Pakistan was aware of Osama bin Laden’s presence there but that is something obviously we looked at.”
He also said that after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the US Government was “as obsessed as India with dismantling the terror network”. “Terrorism of any sort eventually affects everyone,” he added.
In an apparent dig at his successor Donald Trump, who is very active on twitter, mostly to ridicule his rivals and the media, Obama said, “I have more Twitter followers than people who use it more often. Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp are very powerful tools which can be used for both good and bad. We need to understand the challenges of these technologies. It leads to snap judgment.”
Later in the day, Obama also conducted a town hall event in Delhi for the Obama Foundation, where he interacted with an estimated 280 young leaders from across India.
“India and US have so much in common. The US, is home, of course, to millions of Indian Americans and their proud heritage is at the same time combined with an incredible contribution they make in every field in United States… Both of our countries are hugely diverse. We have different languages and backgrounds and different ethnicities and different race… The partnership I believe between the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy could be a defining partnership of the 21st century,” he said.
