Obama Lectures Modi on Religious Tolerance

[rug]

U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama pose with India's President Pranab Mukherjee, second from left, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, during a home reception with several hundred Indian political and cultural figures at the Rashtrapati Bhavan presidential palace in New Delhi January 26, 2015. Jim Bourg/Reuters

By John Elliott
1/28/15 at 2:01 PM

President Obama flew out of Delhi yesterday after a visit spread over three days that, as he put it, was “rich in symbolism but also in substance.”

The symbolism included choreographed meetings and hugs and embraces with Prime MZAinister, Narendra Modi, and the substance included a potential solution to a long-awaited deal on nuclear power projects plus other trade, business and climate change initiatives carrying a $4 billion tag.

With private talks like the one above, and several public meetings, the overall impact of the visit was greater than had been expected. It has reset relations between the two countries on a firm progressive footing, and it has also demonstrated the apparent close rapport between the two leaders.

The biggest combination of symbolism and substance however came yesterday morning when Obama, having broken free from Modi’s embraces, addressed his first meeting on his own and implicitly condemned the pro-Hindu and anti-Muslim policies of hard-liners in Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its umbrella organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

http://www.newsweek.com/obama-lectures-modi-religious-tolerance-302739