Congress believes in freedom of faith, Sonia told Obama

A Congress delegation led by party president Sonia Gandhi had shared with US President Barack Obama the differences in its ideology based on the principle of secularism and that of the ruling BJP.

Besides Sonia, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and former Union minister  Anand Sharma were part of the delegation that had an hour-long meeting with Obama on January 26.

The Opposition leaders are learnt to have conveyed the differences between the Congress and the BJP to Obama in the context of the Lok Sabha elections and the BJP’s convincing victory. It is understood that the Congress leaders had highlighted the party’s belief in the freedom to practice one’s faith. “There was a brief discussion on it,” a senior leader said.

Interestingly, a day after meeting the Congress delegation, Obama made a fervent plea on upholding freedom of religion and not wavering from the constitutional commitment to allow people to “profess, practice and propagate” their faith.

“India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith, as long as it is not splintered along any lines, and it is unified as one nation,” Obama had said in a speech at the Siri Fort Auditorium. During the meeting, Obama congratulated Singh for “scripting” the Indo-US nuclear deal, the implementation of which had hit a roadblock.