Obama brings to an end India’s non-aligned policy: US Media

The mainstream US media has described the India visit of US President Barack Obama as a successful foreign policy initiative, with a leading daily saying his “personal chemistry” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi is helping steer Indo-US relations.

As Obama wrapped up his three-day trip to India, the media said the unprecedented second presidential trip – that too a rare one-country visit – was worth the time of Obama as the visit brought the two largest democratic countries of the world closer than ever.

“India finally came out this week after years in the closet, declaring itself a firm friend of America. The country’s Cold War commitment to non-alignment died long ago as the guiding foreign-policy principle for the world’s second-most-populous nation. But its obituary wasn’t written until this week,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

In editorial titled ‘A New Chapter for America and India, the New York Tines Editorial Board said, “After years of near misses and unfulfilled promises, President Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India appear to have set relations between their democracies on a deeper, perhaps even revolutionary, path.”

However, The Washington Post accused the US President of having double standards when it comes to religious freedom, human rights and women rights.

Soon after delivering a speech in New Delhi, where he passionately advocated for these issues, Obama headed to Saudi Arabia where human rights have concerns on all the issues of religious freedom and human rights, which the President tutored to the Indian audience.

Obama’s final set of remarks on the way out of the country came as “reformists are hoping Modi will mute the divisive agenda of his militant Hindu-nationalist supporters and turn the country’s attention more squarely to economic reform,” The Los Angeles Times reported.