US ex-president Obama’s comment on protecting Muslims irritates India

NEW DELHI, June 27 (SABAH): India’s Finance Minister has derided comments by former US president Barack Obama that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government should protect the rights of minority Muslims.

During Modi’s state visit to the United States last week, Obama told the media that the issue of the protection of the Muslim minority in a majority-Hindu India would be worth raising in Modi’s meeting with US President Joe Biden.

Obama said that without such protection there was a strong possibility that India at some point starts pulling apart.

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressing a press conference in New Delhi said that she was shocked that Obama had made such remarks when Modi was visiting the US aiming to deepen relations.