Why an old Obama clip still stings in South Asia

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A three-year-old interview rarely finds a second life. Yet over the past few days, a clip of Barack Obama’s 2023 conversation with Christiane Amanpour has been circulating widely online once again. Whether revived by algorithms or amplified by political partisans, its renewed popularity says less about the former US president than it does about the enduring questions he raised over India’s treatment of its Muslim minority.

The exchange came as Amanpour asked Obama how a future US administration should deal with world leaders whose records on democracy and human rights have drawn criticism, including India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Obama’s answer was not an argument for disengagement from India, nor a rejection of the country’s importance as a strategic partner. Instead, he offered a warning: that democracies are weakened when they fail to protect the rights of minorities who make up a significant part of their societies.

“If I had a conversation with Prime Minister Modi,” Obama said, “part of my argument would be if you don’t protect the rights of ethnic minorities in India, there’s a strong possibility at some point you start pulling apart.”

Whatever brought the........

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