Trump: Modi 'incredible' on religious freedom

(25 Feb 2020) Defending the host who has showered him with pomp and pageantry, US President Donald Trump on Monday refused to speak out publicly against a controversial new Indian citizenship law pushed by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi that has sparked deadly protests over discrimination against Muslims.

Asked about the law one day after violence in the Indian capital left at least seven people dead, Trump told reporters: “I did not discuss that with him (Modi). That's up to India.”

The law provides fast-track naturalisation for some foreign-born religious minorities but not Muslims, raising fears the country is inching nearer to a religious citizenship test.

Asked about the protests as he wrapped up his two-day visit to India, Trump said he had raised the issue of religious freedom with Modi and the prime minister was “incredible” on the subject.

“He wants people to have religious freedom,” said Trump.

The president himself proposed temporarily barring all Muslims from entering the US during his 2016 campaign and successfully implemented a travel ban that targets travelers from certain majority-Muslim countries.

Trump was winding up a 36-hour visit to India which has seen him met with praise and adulation at every stop; cities were plastered with billboards heralding his arrival, his travel routes were lined with enthusiastic crowds, and elaborately-costumed dancers and musicians, including some on camels, entertained him at every turn.



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