Obama in India: Barack Obama wraps up visit with advice on religious tolerance

NEW DELHI: US President Barack Obama made the case for religious tolerance the centrepiece of his parting address in India, inevitably bringing into focus the anti-conversion drive and rhetoric directed at India's Muslims and Christians by elements of the Sangh Parivar. "Namaste, brothers and sisters of India," began President Obama, addressing a 2,000-strong crowd at New Delhi's Siri Fort Auditorium, mainly consisting of young people.

The speech was punctuated by repeated applause as President Obama spoke about the dreams and opportunities for the young, the diversity of both the US and India and said the time had come for America to be "India's best partner" on a range of issues from education to environment and from infrastructure to counter-terrorism. The US president's reiteration of American support for India's claim for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council evoked applause.

"If the grandson of a cook can become president, and a tea seller can become the prime minister, so can young people from the humblest of origins dare to dream big and realise their aspirations," Obama said, referring to the fact that both countries possessed political and economic institutions that enabled people to aspire to do better than their parents. But it was religious freedom and the right to propagate one's belief that formed the cornerstone of his address, accounting for 20 of its 40 minutes.

Obama reminded the audience of Mahatma Gandhi's reference to the diversity in faiths in the country as "beautiful flowers of the same garden" and "branches of the same majestic tree". Referring repeatedly to similarities between the Indian and American constitutions when it came to religious freedom, Obama said the right to practice one’s faith was a "foundational value" which India must uphold.

"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, splintered 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.

Not unexpectedly, the Congress leadership welcomed President Obama's intervention. "Thank you President Barack Obama for speaking up for the Indian citizen’s right to profess, practise and propagate his religious belief. Would Modi take his friend Barack's advice and ask his friends in VHP to shut up and request Mohan Bhagwat to stop justifying Ghar Wapsi?" AICC General Secretary Digvijaya Singh said. ET reached out to three national spokespersons of the ruling BJP, all of whom declined comment.

Sections of the Sangh Parivar, a term used to describe outfits that believe in the ideology of Hindutva and are loosely aligned with BJP, have launched a campaign for a nationwide law to ban religious conversions because they fear that the country’s Hindu majority could be eroded by conversion to other religions, principally Islam and Christianity. They also launched a programme of 'Ghar Wapsi', or homecoming — a drive to convert Muslims and Christians to Hinduism. Some Hindutva elements have also alleged the existence of a campaign of 'Love Jihad', supposedly a ploy by a section of Muslim youths to seduce Hindu girls into marriage with the intention of converting them to Islam.

Mohan Bhagwat, RSS chief and titular head of the Sangh Parivar, has repeatedly referred to India as a ‘Hindu Rashtra’. PM Modi has made no comment on any of these controversies. A number of states have laws prohibiting conversion by force, allurement or fraud. The constitutionality of such laws has been upheld by the Supreme Court. In his speech, Obama drew further parallels between India and the US, pointing out that in both countries "diversity is our strength and we have to guard against any division along sectarian or religious lines".