PM Modi said he bats for religious freedom: Donald Trump

NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he had brought up the issue of religious freedom in India with PM Narendra Modi. “We did talk about religious freedom. I will say that the PM was incredible and he told me that he wants people to have religious freedom. He told me that in India they have worked very hard to have great and open religious freedom,” he said.
Asked about alleged discrimination against Muslims and rise in hate crimes against them under Modi, the president said, “Well, we discussed that and specifically Muslims and we also discussed Christians, I had a very powerful answer from the PM. We talked about religious liberty for a long period of time in front of a lot of people and I had a very, very powerful answer. And the PM said we have 200 million Muslims in India and a fairly short while ago they had 14 million and he said they have been working very closely with the community.”
Trump’s disinclination to speak on CAA must come as a relief for the government, which had billed the visit as a big leap in India-US ties aimed at cementing and advancing a crucial strategic partnership spanning antiterrorism cooperation to trade and commerce.
On another tricky terrain, that of Kashmir, Trump repeated his favourite formulation that he could help or mediate and referred to there being “two sides to every story” but did so without any particular vehemence.
“We talked a lot about Pakistan. I have very good relations with PM Imran Khan. We talked about it at length actually. No question that it’s a problem. But it’s a problem they have been working on. India is a brave nation and I have said I will do whatever I can do because my relations with both gentlemen (Modi and Khan) is so good. But there have been difficulties in Pakistan and we are seeing what we can do about it. Anything I can do to mediate, anything I can do to help, I will do,” Trump said.
He emphasised the convergence between the two nations as well as between him and Modi on terrorism. “We discussed terrorism and I think we have some very good ideas. I feel very strongly against terrorism.PM Modi is a very religious man as you know, he is a very calm man but actually he is a very very strong person. Very tough actually, I have seen him in action and he has got that foremost in his mind — terrorism,” he said.
The tenor of Trump’s remarks reflected the Indian side’s view that India and the US are increasingly moving together on critical areas of national security, energy and technology with ties rebadged as a “comprehensive global strategic partnership” as the two leaders announced earlier in remarks to media.
The president’s remarks were punctuated with strong praise for Modi and an implicit acknowledgement that he found the PM’s response to issues of religious freedom in India and on terrorism sourced from Pakistan convincing.
In his briefing, foreign secretary Harsh Shringla said Trump didn’t specifically bring up CAA. “You would have heard President Trump in his speech yesterday in Ahmedabad referring to religious diversity and harmony that is evident in India; discussions really to the extent possible were on these lines on this issue,” he said. “The issue of CAA did not come up; there was appreciation from both sides that pluralism and diversity are a common binding factor of both countries,” he said.