NEW DELHI, Jan 27 � Diversity in India and America allows the grandson of a cook to become President and a tea seller a Prime Minister, President Barack Obama said hailing the diversity in the two countries, reports PTI.
�We are strongest when we see the inherent dignity in every human being. Look at our countries, the incredible diversities even here in this hall. India is defined by countless languages and dialects and every colour and caste and creed, gender and orientations. Likewise in America we are black and white, Latino, Asian, Indian-American, Latino- American.
�Your Constitution begins with the pledge to uphold the dignity of the individual and our Declaration of Independence proclaims that all men are treated equal. In both of our countries, generations have worked to live up to these ideas,� he said.
�So even as we live in a world of terrible inequality, we are also proud to live in countries where a grandson of a cook can become a President and even a tea seller can become Prime Minister,� Obama said referring to himself and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said progress depends on something basic and �that is how we see each other.�
Remembering a famous speech given by Swami Vivekananda over 100 years ago in Chicago, Obama referred to �sisters and brothers of India� in his Town Hall address at the Siri Fort here.
�My confidence in your nation is deep rooted in values that we share. We may have different history, speak different languages but when we see each other we see a reflection of ourselves,� he said.
Citing similarity in the growth story of India and the US, he said the two were among a few nations who have gone both to the Moon and to the Mars.
Obama also remembered inequality faced by him due to his skin tone.
�Even as America has blessed us with extraordinary opportunities, there were moments in my life where I had been treated differently because of the colour of my skin.�
Obama underlined that India would succeed so long as it was not �splintered� on religious lines or any other lines.
He said that around the world there was intolerance, violence and terror perpetrated by those who profess to be standing for upholding their faith.
�We have to guard against any efforts to divide us on sectarian lines or any other thing,� he said.
The US leader said no society is immune by the darkest impulses of man and that more often religion has been used to tap into it.
He began his reference to religious tolerance by pointing out that across �our two great countries� there are Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Jews and recalling that Mahatma Gandhi had said that different religions are beautiful flowers on the same garden and branches from the �same majestic tree�.
Freedom of religion was written into America�s founding documents and Article 25 of the Indian Constitution gave all people right to practise or propagate their religion.
�In both our countries, in almost all countries, upholding this fundamental right is the responsibility of the government and also the responsibility of every person,� he emphasised.
