Amid ongoing clashes between supporters and protestors of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Delhi, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday expressed hope that India will take right decision for its people.
He told journalists in New Delhi that he had discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on religious freedom and said the prime minister wants people to have religious freedom. “I want to leave that to India and hopefully they will make the right decision for their people,” the US President said.
“We did talk about religious freedom. The PM said he wants people to have religious freedom. They have worked really hard on it. I heard about the individual attacks but I did not discuss it. It is up to India,” Trump said.
The US President was addressing a press conference in New Delhi on the last day of his maiden visit to India as he wrapped up his two-day visit to India.
On being asked about America’s peace pact with Taliban, he said, “Yes, I spoke to PM Modi on it. I think India would like to see it happen. We are pretty close. Everybody is happy about it.”
The US and the Taliban announced the truce earlier this month. It took effect last Friday and set the stage for a broader deal aimed at ending 18 years of war in Afghanistan and bringing US troops home.
On scrapping of Article 370 from Jammu & Kashmir and Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, the US President said, “Anything I can do to mediate, I would do. They (Pakistan) are working on Kashmir. Kashmir has been a thorn in lots of people’s sight for a long time. There are two sides to every story. We discussed terrorism at length today.”
On terrorism emanating from Pakistan, he added, “We talked a lot about it today. I said I will do whatever I can do to help as my relationship with both gentlemen (PM Modi & Pak PM) is so good… Anything I can do to mediate, I’d do.”
On signing of trade deal between both the nations, Trump said, “We are being charged large amount of tariffs…I think you have to pay the highest tariff when you deal with India, Harley-Davidson has to pay tremendous tariffs when they send motorcycles here and when India sends to us, there is virtually no tariff.”
