K.V. Seetharamaiah
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Barack Obama has cautioned India “if India does not protect the rights of ‘ethnic minorities’, there are chances of India being isolated. His uncharitable remarks on ethnic minorities are highly provocative. The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman has pointed out that during the tenure of Obama, six Muslim majority countries viz. Syria, Yemen, Saudi, Iraq and other Muslim countries had faced bombing by the US. The number of bombings has been put at 26000. Sitaraman has observed that 13 countries have conferred highest civilian awards on Modi. It is disquieting that Obama issued a statement that does not go well with India at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was talking about India in front of everyone. In fact the minorities in India are not denied of their rights. In the Hindu-dominated India, even Hindus are not being treated as first among equals. The concern shown by Obama reminds a fiction. In a house, there were mother, son, daughter-in-law and daughter. Two rotis were prepared. It had to be distributed among son, daughter-in-law and daughter. The mother advises the son and daughter-in-law to part with half of the rotis from their share in favour of daughter. Ex-USCIRF Chief has suggested that Obama should complement India. US official Moore has snubbed Obama for his comments on minorities treatment in India. Obama needs to be reminded of genocide of Uighurs and other Muslim groups by China. 77 per cent believe there is not a lot of discrimination in India. 98 per cent of Muslims are free to practice their religion. 90 per cent Indians believe it is important to respect all religions. Nearly half of Muslims believe after seven decades that the partition of the country strained the relations between Hindus and Muslims. The remarks of Obama are in poor light.
