Headlines
India's success depends on not letting religion splinter country: Obama

New Delhi, Jan 27
US President Barack Obama
Tuesday, in his only public engagement during his three-day India visit,
stressed on the right of freedom of individuals to profess, practice
and propagate religion and said it is important for India with its
multiplicity of faiths to uphold this fundamental right.
Addressing
a town hall style meeting at the Siri Fort Auditorium here, that had a
large audience of young people, the US president spoke extensively on
the rights enshrined for people in the Indian and American
constitutions. He said nations are the strongest when it treats all its
citizens as "god's children, all equal and worthy".
Referring to
the diversity of the faith in India, he said Mahatma Gandhi had referred
to the diversity in faiths in the country as "beautiful flowers of the
same garden" and branches of the same majestic tree.
He said in
India, like in the US, "diversity is our strength and we have to guard
against any division along sectarian or religious lines".
He said
that in every country "upholding this fundamental freedom is the
responsibility of the governments and also of every person".
Obama
said that both he and Michelle follow the Christian faith but there
have been times when people have questioned his faith -- in a reference
to his name, Barack Obama, which is often seen as a Muslim name and many
have said that his father, who was originally from Kenya before he came
to the US to the study, was from the Muslim faith.
He said he
sees the "intolerance in minds and the terror perpetrated by those who
profess to be standing by their faiths when in effect they are betraying
it" - alluding to the Islamic State and other Islamist militant groups
that are indulging in violence in the name of religion.
He said in society religion is used to "very often tap into the darker impulses" of the human mind.
Referring
to a gunman killing six people at a Sikh gurudwara in Wisconsin in
2012, he said "and in our moment of shared grief our two countries
reaffirmed that basic truth that we must adhere today" to the tenet
"that every person has the right to practice their faith as they choose,
or to practise no faith at all, free from persecution, and fear and
discrimination".
He said the "peace that we seek in the world
begins in human hearts" and one should rejoice in the "beauty of every
soul" which is part of the differences in religion.
He said for
India it will be more important to uphold the fundamental freedom of
religion as, with its diversity, it was an example for the rest of the
world.
"Nowhere is it more important than in India... Nowhere is
it going to be more necessary that the foundational value be upheld.
India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along lines of
religious faith, splinter along any lines and it is unified as one
nation; and all Indians whatever their faith go to the movies and
applaud actors like Shah Rukh Khan or athletes like Milkha Singh and
Mary Kom," he said.
The government of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has been facing criticism over its silence and failure to rein in
fringe right-wing elements that have been indulging in religious hate
and in campaigns of re-conversion - dubbed 'ghar wapasi' or homecoming -
of Muslims and Christians who they allege had been forcibly converted
from Hindusim.
Obama wound up his visit Tuesday afternoon to leave for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.













