US President Barack Obama on Tuesday hailed the diversity of India and America, adding that nations are strongest when their governments show appreciation for all its people.
“The aim of our work must be not to have a few do well, but for everybody to have a chance. Everybody, who is willing to work for it, have the ability to dream big and then reach those dreams. Our nations are strongest when we applaud the quality of all our people, and that includes our women,” President Obama said, while addressing a gathering at the Siri Fort auditorium in the national capital.
“Do we act with compassion and empathy? Are we measured by our efforts, what Dr. [Martin Luther] King called the content of our character, rather than the colour of our skin or the manner in which we worship our god? In India and America, our diversity is our strength and we have to guard against any efforts to divide ourselves along sectarian or any other lines. If we do that well, that is an example for every other country on earth. That is what makes us world leaders – not the size of our economy or the number of weapons we have but in our ability to show the way in how we work together,” he added.
Speaking of his own experiences of being discriminated against in the US, President Obama further stated that every person should follow their dreams despite facing prejudice.
“When Dr Martin Luther King Jr came to India, he was introduced as a fellow untouchable to the children he met. My grandfather was a cook for the British army in Kenya. The different branches of Michelle’s family tree include both slaves and slave owners. When we were born, people who looked like us still couldn’t vote in some parts of the country. Even as America has blessed us with remarkable opportunities, there were moments in my life when I was treated differently because of the colour of my skin,” he said.
Many countries, including the US, grapple with questions of identity and inequality and how we treat each other and people who are different than us, how we deal with diversity, our beliefs and our faiths. Right now, in crowded neighbourhoods not far from here, a man is driving an autorickshaw or washing somebody else’s clothes or doing the hard work that no one else will do. A woman is cleaning somebody else’s house and a young man is on a bicycle delivering lunch, a little girl is hauling a heavy bucket of water. I believe their dreams, their hopes are just as important, just as beautiful, just as worthy as ours. So, even as we live or work in terrible inequality, we are also proud to live in a country where even the grandson of a cook can become president. Or even a Dalit can write the constitution and even a tea seller can become the prime minister,” he added.
President Obama, who was on a three-day visit of India, concluded his trip later in the day. During the trip, he became the first US president to attend the Republic Day celebrations and the first president to visit India twice while still in office. (ANI)