Washington, June 23, 2023 (PPI-OT): Former US President Barack Obama has pointed out that if rights of minorities in India are not protected, there is a strong possibility of the country “at some point starts pulling apart”. During an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, former US President made statements on protection of the rights of ethnic minorities in India. He added that if a US president meets with PM Modi, “then protection of the Muslim minority in a Majority-Hindu India, that is something worth mentioning.”

During the interview he said, “By the way, if I had a conversation with Prime Minister Modi, who I know well, part of my argument would be that if you do not protect the rights of ethnic minorities in India, then there is a strong possibility that India, at some point, starts pulling apart. And we have seen what happens when you start getting those kinds of large internal conflicts. So that would be contrary to the interests not just of Muslim Indians but also Hindu Indians. I think it is important to be able to talk about these things honestly. Things are not going to be as clean as you like, because the world is complicated,” Obama said during the interview.

“The president of the United States has a lot of equities. And when I was president, I would deal with figures in some cases who were allies, who, you know, if you pressed me in private, do they run their governments and their political parties in ways that I would say are ideally democratic? I’d have to say no,” he said.

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