If you read some of the tweets by some members of our media and other spin doctors, it would appear to you US President Barack Obama has strongly rebuked PM Modi for his attitude towards Hindutva forces and resultant growing intolerance. Here are a few of such tweets:
Veiled hint to Modi? Religious intolerance in India would have shocked Gandhi, says Obama http://t.co/68l3N4vrzL pic.twitter.com/CtAhOOdtpM
— Firstpost (@firstpost) February 6, 2015
‘Religious intolerance would have shocked Gandhi’. These sickulars never learn, do they?
— vir sanghvi (@virsanghvi) February 6, 2015
India as a whole, BJPGovt in particular, must take #Obama‘s lament seriously:”Acts of religious intolerance wud have shocked #MahatmaGandhi” — Sudheendra Kulkarni (@SudheenKulkarni) February 6, 2015
Of course, as always, the truth is quite different from the fiction produced above. We reproduce the relevant portion from Obama’s speech below:
Michelle and I returned from India — an incredible, beautiful country, full of magnificent diversity — but a place where, in past years, religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other peoples of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs — acts of intolerance that would have shocked Gandhiji, the person who helped to liberate that nation.
So this is not unique to one group or one religion. There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith.
Two clear points emerge from the above:
1. Obama refers to acts of religious intolerance in the “past years“. Even the most conservative estimate of “past years” will be construed as 2 years, while Modi has been in the driver’s seat for barely 8 months. Thus a majority of this period belongs to the Secular rule of Sonia Gandhi via her able puppet Manmohan Singh. If at all Obama wanted to attack Modi, he could have used “past months” or a reference to the present.
2. Secondly, Obama mentions “religious faiths of all types”. This is in stark contrast to the oft-repeated pseudo secular liberal narrative of Minorities are being persecuted by Majority i.e. Hindus, and via correlation by Modi, who is touted as the poster boy of Hindutva. Obama very adeptly steers clear of this probably because he wishes to condemn religious extremists from all religions including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, etc.
The best example of stellar reporting comes from veteran “journalist” Sagarika Ghose:
Religious intolerance in India today would have shocked Gandhi, says POTUS
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) February 6, 2015
Either, Sagarika’s English comprehension skills are extremely poor OR she is wilfully distorting a statement to make it suitable to her agenda. Nothing else explains how “past years” can be turned into “in India today”, because the “today” reference aims at deflecting all the blame on the current regime.
We hope Rajdeep Sardesai comes forth to apologise for his wife’s disservice to the PM of India, especially because Rajdeep is so willing to apologise on public platforms for alleged misdemeanours of his co-workers to even unelected members of AAP.
On a side note, we would like to ask Obama for his help in reducing such acts of religious intolerance in India. Firstly, we request him to stop funding the Military establishments of failed states like Pakistan which openly sponsor religious terrorism. Secondly we also urge him to curb US funding to Missionary groups who not only add to the religious tensions with their Evangelical activities but also support extremism in North East regions of India.
