New Delhi: India needs to cherish and nurture its Muslim population that is integrated and considers itself Indian, former US President Barack Obama said in New Delhi on Friday. It is an idea that needs to be reinforced, the former President said while addressing the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here.

Mr Obama said he had emphasised the need for religious tolerance and the right to practice one’s own faith during closed-door talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his last trip to India as President in 2015, eight months after the Modi government had assumed office in May 2014. The comment Mr Obama had made in New Delhi in 2015 was also seen as a veiled message to the Modi government.

Mr Obama also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the first meeting between the two leaders after Mr Obama left the White House in January 2017. At another event in New Delhi on Friday, Mr Obama was quoted by websites as saying: “I like him (Modi)... I think he has a vision for the country... he is making efforts to modernise some elements of the bureaucracy. But I was also great friends with Dr (Manmohan) Singh.”

The 44th US President, who held office from 2009 to 2017, had made strong comments in favour of pluralism in New Delhi during a public interaction on the last day of his January 2015 visit, which had come against the backdrop of a controversy over religious conversions.

“There’s a counter-narrative taking place, at all times, but it’s particularly pronounced now... in Europe, US and sometimes in India where those old tribal impulses reassert themselves under leaders who try to push back and under leaders who try to exploit them,” Mr Obama was quoted by news agencies as saying at the event earlier in the day.

Responding to an India-specific question, Mr Obama referred to India’s “enormous Muslim population”, which is successful, integrated and thinks of itself as Indian. That is unfortunately not always the case in some other countries, Mr Obama added.

Referring to India, he said: “And that is something that needs to be cherished and nurtured, cultivated. It’s important to continue reinforcing it.”

Answering a question on terrorism emanating from Pakistan, Mr Obama said: “We had no evidence that Pakistan was aware of Osama bin Laden’s presence there, but that is something obviously we looked at.”

On the meeting with Mr Obama, Mr Modi later tweeted: “It was a pleasure to meet, once again, former President @BarackObama, and learn about the new initiatives being taken forward under his leadership at the @ObamaFoundation and his perspectives on further strengthening India-US strategic partnership.”

Mr Obama was the first US President to visit India twice during his term in office. Prior to 2015, he had visited in 2010 when Dr Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister.