US President Barack Obama in a recent speech in Washington said that religious conflicts has produced “acts of intolerance” in India and that is something that would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi if he was alive today.

Obviously, Obama is ill informed about the situation in India. With a population of around 1.3 billion, some people from different religions have been making abusive remarks about one another. However, such instances have been taking place in several countries around the world including the US and other Western countries.

In India, such fringe instances constitute a microscopic minority and are a very small fraction of the country’s population. Unfortunately, Indian media, which is now increasingly motivated by business interests and sensational news rather than value, have been highlighting the observations of these people belonging to different religions. The people who want media attention are encouraged by the Indian media giving them unwarranted and undeserving publicity. However, the government of India and various state governments have consistently disapproved the behaviour and condemned them.

Millions of Indians belonging to different religions work together in various institutions and live harmoniously. There are even churches in India, which are visited by many Hindus on special occasions. There are also Hindu temples, which are frequented by people from other religions. Obviously, Obama does not seem to know all this!

Many Indians are disappointed that after receiving such a vociferous welcome in India, Obama has thought it fit to make such observations on so called religious intolerance in India, which can really sow the seed of conflict and create unnecessary tension in the country. Why has he done this?

It is particularly distressing that Obama has dragged Mahatma Gandhi’s name in support of his view. While Mahatma Gandhi would disapprove of the fringe elements of different religions, who behave like religious extremists, certainly he would not have failed to observe and commend the great religious harmony in India amongst cross section of people.

Obama should not fail to note that Mahatma Gandhi would have been the first person to disapprove and condemn the US for it’s aggressive acts in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and others, where thousands of innocent people were killed due to US military attacks including aerial bombing of innocent citizens.

— The reader is an Indian founder trustee of an NGO based in Chennai, India.