No coordination with White House: Senior official on Obama’s Modi visit comments
While the Joe Biden administration has enormous regard for former President Barack Obama, he is a private citizen and there was no coordination with the White House on his comments on India during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, a senior administration official has said.
In an exclusive conversation with HT, the senior administration official however added that Biden raised “every kind of issue” with Modi, as Modi did with Biden in a dignified and respectful way. He added, in the context of an online pushback in India against Wall Street Journal reporter who asked Modi a question, that the administration believed in a free and open press, didn’t support any kind of online harassment but the vast majority of the commentary around the visit was positive and that’s what officials would like to focus on.
As Biden was welcoming Modi on the south lawn of White House and engaging in bilateral talks on June 22, Obama, in an interview with CNN, had said that for Biden, the “protection of a Muslim minority in a majority Hindu India” was worth mentioning to Modi. Obama had added that if he had a conversation with Modi, part of his argument would be that if the Indian PM didn’t protect the rights of “ethnic minorities”, there was a “strong possibility” of India “pulling apart”. These “large internal conflicts”, Obama had said, would be contrary to the interests of both “Muslim India” and “Hindu India”.
Obama’s comments created a domestic political backlash in India. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh alleged that under Obama, the US had bombed six Muslim-dominated nations. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted there were many “Hussain Obama in India itself”, and Assam Police would act according to its own priorities.
Asked if there was any truth to the speculation of a “good cop-bad cop” act here, with Obama sending a stern message and Biden wooing India, the official said that they had enormous regard for President Obama. “But he is a private citizen, and there was no coordination on what he said.”
The official said that while he won’t characterise the nature of private conversations between Biden and Modi, he could say that “every issue, every kind of issue was raised”.
“But President Biden’s style is to do it with great dignity, to treat partners with respect and to engage in the spirit of a close partnership. And I think that’s what he did with Prime Minister Modi, I can assure you that each country had some quiet things that they wanted to discuss. So it was not simply the President talking directly about issues with PM Modi. PM Modi had a few issues that he wanted to raise as well, but I can tell you that the depth of their relationship allowed them to talk about issues respectfully and in a way that I’m confident that the other heard it and heard it in a spirit of respect,” the official said.
When asked about the controversy around WSJ reporter Sabrina Siddiqui’s question to Modi, the official said, “We have made very clear that we believe free and open press is important. We frankly do not support any kind of online harassment. And indeed it concerns us greatly.”
But the official added that they had been focused on the extremely positive response to the summit. “The vast majority of the commentary has been positive, has been uplifting, and has basically heralded what I think is a remarkable set of achievements on the part of President Biden and Prime Minister Modi. And, and I think that’s appropriate because those accolades are deserved by both leaders.”