Obama shouldn't lecture India on religious tolerance: Subramanian Swamy

New Delhi, Jan 28: Criticising US president Barack Obama's Town Hall speech, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday said that Washington should not lecture India on religious tolerance.

"He [President Obama] should mind his own business. Two million Hindus who are working there [in the US] are not allowed to build their temples; they are not allowed to celebrate Diwali. He only gives lectures here. He says in America they have worked out a harmony. In America, the majority was brutalising the minority. In India, for 800 years, the Islamic minority was brutalising the majority Hindus,"Swamy was quoted as saying in an agency report.

Swamy further said that minorities are creating difficulties in Kashmir and in areas of Kerala, Tamil Nadu. He said that Obama should understand the problems in India before giving such advice.

Making a strong pitch for religious tolerance, US President Barack Obama on Tuesday said every person has the right to practice his faith without any persecution and that India will succeed so long it is not "splintered" on religious lines.

Addressing a Town hall event at the Siri Fort auditorium on the third and final day of his visit to India, "Every person has the right to practice his faith without any persecution, fear or discrimination. India will succeed so long it is not splintered on religious lines."

Obama also cited Article 25 of the Indian Constitution dealing with Freedom of religion. "Your (Constitution) Article 25 says all people are equally entitled to the freedon of consience and have right to freely profess and practise and propagate religion.

OneIndia News
(With agency inputs)