Trump refuses to comment on CAA controversy; says its India's concern

While on a two-day visit to India, US President Donald Trump sidelined himself by not commenting on the amended Citizenship Amendment law. Once again repeating his offer to act as a mediator to reduce tensions between India and Pakistan, Trump said that he shares cordial relations with leaders of both the countries.

New Delhi: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday steered clear of controversial issues, including the Citizenship (Amendement) Act, saying it is upto India. President said that he is hopeful India is going to make the right decision for its people.

Addressing a press conference, Trump, who earlier held comprehensive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the second and the last day of his visit, said he discussed at length the issue of religious freedom with Modi.

"We did talk about religious freedom. I will say that the Prime Minister was incredible and he told me that he wants people to have religious freedom. He told me that in India they have worked very hard to have great and open religious freedom. If we look back and see that what's going on relatively in other places...they have really worked hard on religious freedom," Trump said.

When asked about the incidents of violence in the national capital during his visit, the US President simply said, "As far as the individual attacks, I heard about it, but I didn't discuss that with him. That's up to India."

Read: Trump's Day-2: Its all about trade and business with India

Regarding CAA that has raised concerns from a particular community and led to nationwide protests, he said he would not like to discuss that.

"Hopefully they are going to make the right decision for their people. That's really up to India," he said. The US President also said that Prime Minister Modi told him that he is working very closely with the Muslims, who have seen rise in their population from 14 million to 200 million now.

Trump said he talked about his country's peace deal with the Taliban with Modi, and said that India will like to see it happen. He also repeated his offer of mediation to ease the tension between India and Pakistan, saying he has good relations with the leaders of both the countries.

(PTI REPORT)

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