Barack Obama’s remarks on India, PM Modi not coordinated with White House: US official

A senior White House official has reportedly said that the Biden administration had no role in former president Barack Obama’s remarks about the state of Muslims in India, which were made during Prime Ministered Narendra Modi’s recently concluded trip to the United States.

The official, who has not been named, told the New Delhi-based Hindustan Times newspaper that Obama made these comments in his private capacity as a citizen and had no coordination from the White House.

The official, however, added that President Joe Biden raised “every kind of issue” with Modi, as the Indian PM did with the US president "in a dignified and respectful way."

Speaking about the online vitriol a Wall Street Journal reporter had to face as a consequence of asking Modi questions about human rights, the official said that the US government believed in a free and open press, and didn’t support any kind of online harassment.

He pointed out that the vast majority of the commentary around the visit was positive and that’s what officials would like to focus on.

Controversy over Barack Obama's remarks on Indian Muslims

A rather successful US trip by Modi was marred by an interview Obama gave to CNN during which he mentioned Modi and talked about the protection of the rights of ethnic minorities in India.

 Obama said the issue of the “protection of the Muslim minority in a majority-Hindu India” would be worth raising in Modi’s meeting with Biden.

These “large internal conflicts”, Obama had said, would be contrary to the interests of both “Muslim India” and “Hindu India”, he said.

The former president said that without such protection there was “a strong possibility that India at some point starts pulling apart”.

The remarks were severely condemned in India, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh leading the charge.

Backlash in India against Obama's remarks

Sitharaman said she was shocked Obama had made such remarks when Modi was visiting the US aiming to deepen relations.

“He was commenting on Indian Muslims … having bombed Muslim-majority countries from Syria to Yemen … during his presidency,” Sitharaman told a press conference. “Why would anyone listen to any allegations from such people?”

The chief minister of northeastern Assam state, Himanta Biswa Sarma, tweeted that there were many “Hussain Obama in India itself”, and Assam Police would act according to its own priorities.

At the press conference with Biden, Modi denied any discrimination against minorities under his government.

(With inputs from agencies)

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