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 Hours before boarding a flight to Saudi Arabia, Obama warned India
not to stray from its constitutional commitment to allow people to
freely "profess, practice and propagate" religion.
"India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines
of religious faith, as long as it is not splintered along any lines,
and it is unified as one nation," he said in a townhall address to
mostly young Indians.
Obama's speech, after three days in New Delhi aimed at cementing a
strategic partnership, was widely interpreted as a message to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), whose rise to power emboldened activists to declare
India a nation of Hindus.
He made no direct reference to Modi, who was banned from U.S. travel
for nearly a decade until last year after deadly Hindu-Muslim
violence in a state he ruled in 2002.
Lately, religious conversion has again become a divisive political
issue, after hardliners with links to the BJP claimed Hinduism was
under threat and started a campaign to convince Christians and
Muslims to change their faith.
About a fifth of India's 1.27 billion people identify themselves as
belonging to faiths other than Hinduism.
 "The message is that India is a democratic country, it is not a
Hindu country or a Christian country, it is all together, India has
respect for all religions," said Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, a Muslim
priest who heads the All India Imam Organisation, after the speech.
He was standing with a Hindu holy man from one of India's pilgrimage
towns, Rishikesh.
Modi has warned lawmakers from his own party to stop promoting
controversial issues such as religious conversions and to focus on
economic reforms, but Obama's message was quickly seized by
political opponents of the prime minister.
"I do hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was listening to the
speech carefully," said Manish Tewari of the opposition Congress
party, criticizing Hindu activists for promoting a "majoritarian
ethos that goes against the grain of liberal democracy".
"MOBAMA"
Obama and Modi's relaxed manner together during the visit was dubbed
a "bromance" in India media, after the two men shared tea in a lotus
garden, recorded a radio show together, and spent two hours chatting
at a rain-splashed military parade.
In between, they sealed deals to unlock billions of dollars in
nuclear trade and deepen defense ties, and Obama pledged $4 billion
in financial backing to release the "untapped potential" of a
partnership between the world's largest democracies.
Some of that financing is to help Modi meet his own ambitious goals
to use more renewable energy, especially solar, as fast-growing
India's carbon emissions rise.
However, during the visit, India did not commit to a peak emissions
target of the kind China and the United States agreed to in
November.
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"Here's the truth: even if countries like the United States curb our
emissions, if growing countries like India - with soaring energy
needs - don't also embrace cleaner fuels, then we don't stand a
chance against climate change," Obama said.
On Monday, he became the first U.S. president to attend India's
annual Republic Day parade, a show of military might long associated
with Cold War anti-Americanism.
Obama's presence at the parade signaled Modi's willingness to end
India's traditional reluctance to get too close to any big power.
Instead, he is seeking close ties with them all, even as he pushes
back against a more assertive China and take sides on other global
issues.A joint U.S.-India policy statement that focused on free
navigation in the South China Sea highlighted this more muscular
diplomacy.
ENDORSING INDIAN REFORM
Obama said the United States would stand first in line for the trade
and investment opportunities that will spring from the economic
reform drive under Modi.
"America wants to be your partner in igniting the next wave of
Indian growth. As India pursues reforms to encourage more trade and
investment, we'll be the first in line," he told the townhall,
attended by Michelle Obama and Nobel peace laureate Kailash
Satyarthi.
Praising the non-violence tenets of Mahatma Gandhi, Obama touched
during his speech on the treatment of women, an issue that has
troubled India since the horrific gang rape and murder of a student
on a bus in New Delhi two years ago.
"Every daughter deserves the same chance as our sons," he said. "And
every woman should be able to go about her day — to walk the street,
or ride the bus — and be safe and be treated with the respect and
dignity. She deserves that."
(Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
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