An exclusive series of snap polls conducted across India to gauge public opinion related to events during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US reveals that a big majority of Indians are incensed with the remarks made by former American President Barack Obama during a CNN interview.
During the interview, Obama said that there is a danger of India pulling apart if ethnic minorities and Muslims were not protected. While there has been no official Indian reaction to such controversial remarks during a state visit, it has triggered anger among Indians and saw it as a needless attack on the country and Modi.
The question asked during the CVoter snap poll was: Should the government of India condemn this remark?
More than five out of every 10 respondents are of the opinion that the Indian government must strongly condemn the remarks made by Obama.
In contrast, a little over one third of the respondents are of the opinion that the Centre should ignore the remark.
Interestingly, 47 per cent of respondents who support opposition parties seem to agree with the majority viewpoint, while 38 per cent would prefer the government to ignore it.
During the state visit, media outlets, politicians and activists had urged President Joe Biden to put pressure on Modi over human rights and free speech.
On Friday night, Prime Minister Modi wrapped the highly successful state visit that has resulted in many pathbreaking agreements in the defence, telecom, semi conductor, energy, education and other frontier technology sectors including space exploration and quantum computing.
President Joe Biden hosted the Prime Minister for a private dinner at the White House apart from the ceremonial reception and official banquet attended by over 500 guests.
During the state visit, Modi became the first Indian leader to address a joint session of the US Congress on two occasions.
Apart from meeting dozens of CEOs of multinationals, the Prime Minister also addressed the Indian diaspora twice in New York and Washington.
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