Muslims and other communities in India “gel well”, with no community being viewed with suspicion, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Thursday, deftly deflecting an unexpected bouncer from an American journalist as to what he thought of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s controversial call to bar entry of all Muslims to US.
“I think your question to me has the potential for nuclear bomb,” Parrikar remarked amid laughter at a joint media appearance with his US counterpart Ashton Carter, adding: “I’ll not comment on what has been talked about in the US.”
“But as far as India is concerned, we believe that we are the second-largest Muslim population. And we gel well. We believe that everyone has equal opportunity, equal rights,” the Minister said, stressing: “In India, we have equal rights for everyone, and we don’t look towards communities with suspicion.”
“Yes, maybe there are a few small pockets of extremism, radicalization, but there are too few to treat the different sections of society differently,” Parrikar said, noting: “Those who are radicalized is a different issue. We tackle them separately, but that is — those were terrorists.”
Carter, who was also quizzed about the Trump’s proposal, also steered clear of the issue, saying, “This is a department that stands apart from politics. It’s national security, and I’m not going to comment while I’m Secretary of Defence on anything that is going on in the campaign trail.”
Parrikar, responding to another question on whether India considers increasing its role in countering ISIS, made it clear that whatever role India has to play in the region it will do so under the auspices of the United Nations. But India is always prepared for intelligence sharing with nations to combat terrorism, he said.
While on the subject of terrorism, Parrikar mentioned in his opening remarks that the terrorism issue was key topic of discussion in his engagements.
Stating that terrorism has become a global phenomenon, requiring a comprehensive response, Parrikar stressed: “Terrorists of all shades and affiliations must be countered without any differentiation.”