‘US bombed 6 Muslim countries under his watch’: Nirmala Sitharaman leads BJP attack on Obama

President Joe Biden was Vice-President during the Obama years.

“Perhaps six Muslim-dominated countries were bombed due to him (Obama). More than 26,000 bombs were dropped – from Syria and Yemen to Saudi (Arabia) and Iraq,” she said.

“It was surprising that when the PM was visiting the US, a former US President was making a statement on Indian Muslims… I am speaking with caution, we want a good friendship with the US. But comments keep coming from there on India’s religious tolerance,” she said.

Suggesting that the Opposition Congress was behind campaigns to target the Prime Minister and his government, Sitharaman said,

“Politically speaking, since they can’t see any possibility to win an election against the BJP-NDA government, against the Prime Minister, that is why such campaigns are being run by people from within the country.” She said the “role” of the Congress in such campaigns is becoming quite clear, more than during the last two (Lok Sabha) elections.

“They go to Pakistan and seek their help in changing the government in India saying ‘ek haath jodo’… and these kinds of toolkits that are run abroad, the Congress seems to have activated them all,” she said, adding that it seems Congress leaders are “not confident that people will listen to them”, so they are using these “tricks of inciting such baseless allegations” against the PM. But who will believe these people, she said.

“I believe that people from the Opposition parties, when they travel abroad, don’t talk in India’s national interest, because they know they cannot defeat Prime Minister Modi. They prop up such people to jump into this argument without knowing the ground reality,” she said.

Sitharaman’s combative statements are being viewed as a carefully considered pushback by the political establishment. President Biden did not raise the issues of human rights in public, and the diplomatic establishment in India did not respond to Obama’s remarks. But his comments are being challenged by the ruling party at the political level, since he is a former US President, and is not seen to be talking on behalf of the US government.

On Thursday, while responding to a question by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview, on how Biden should engage with leaders such as Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi, who is considered “autocratic… illiberal democrat”, Obama said, “If President (Joe Biden) meets with Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi, the protection of Muslim minority in a majority Hindu India is something worth mentioning.”

He said that if he had a conversation with Prime Minister Modi who he knew well, part of his argument would be that if you do not protect the rights of ethnic minorities in India, there is a strong possibility that India, at some point, starts pulling apart.

A day later, BJP national vice-president Baijayant Jay Panda raised the “chronology” of events. “First, President Joe Biden finally went out on a limb to call a spade a spade – calling Xi (Jinping) a dictator; next, he had the audacity to treat PM Modi to rare honours and boost US-India ties to the next level. What a ‘coincidence’ that Barry (an apparent reference to Obama) waited till that very moment before raining on the parade, by bizarrely trying to equate India’s record on minorities to China’s.” Panda also called Obama’s track record on Islamic countries as “pretty gross”.

Assam Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, in a Twitter post, had said: “There are many Hussain Obama in India itself. We should prioritize taking care of them before considering going to Washington.”

He was responding to a jibe at him by a journalist over Obama’s remarks on the Muslim minority in India.

On Sunday, a source close to Sarma pointed out that Obama made the remark on Prime Minister Modi when he was still on a State visit to the US.

“If he (Obama) doesn’t bother about our Prime Minister being there as the US government’s guest and did not refrain from commenting on him, why should our leaders do so? Anyway, the US media claims that it’s a country that tolerates criticism. Why should they feel bad at his (Sarma’s) remarks?” the source said.

Reached for comment, Sarma told The Indian Express: “Whatever I tweeted, I stand by that.”