NYT asks Modi to break silence on religion - Chandigarh Tribune

As US President Barack Obama’s comment that religious intolerance in India would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi raised a storm in India, the New York Times asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his “deafening silence”.

Gandhi’s legacy is an inspiration for the US too, said the White House, while a bipartisan commission praised the President for his “timely comments” and the State Department said it encouraged all governments to respect religious freedom.

“What will it take for Modi to speak out about the mounting violence against India’s religious minorities?” said the New York Times on Saturday in an editorial titled “Modi’s Dangerous Silence”. “Attacks at Christian places of worship have prompted no response from the man elected to represent all Indians,” said the daily. “Nor has he addressed the mass conversion to Hinduism of Christians and Muslims who have been coerced or promised money,” it said.

"Modi's continued silence before such troubling intolerance increasingly gives the impression that he either cannot or does not wish to control the fringe elements of the Hindu nationalist right," the Times suggested.

Citing Obama's recent speech in New Delhi: "India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith," it said: "Modi needs to break his deafening silence on religious intolerance." — IANS