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Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar avoids direct answer to Trump question

by IBNS 10 Dec 2015, 08:01 pm

Washington, Dec 11 (IBNS) Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who is touring the US, on Friday avoided a direct answer to the Donald Trump issue where the US Presidential candidate and a front runner for the White House had earlier claimed the ban of Muslims from the USA.

While answering a question from a reporter on the same, Parrikar said, "I think your question to me has the potential for nuclear bomb," amidst laughter from the gatherers.

He however said, "I'll not comment on what has been talked about in the U.S.  But as far as India is concerned, we believe that we are the second-largest Muslim population.  And we gel well.  We believe that everyone has equal opportunity, equal rights."

Parrikar also stated the fact that India had little pockets of extremism, but issues which are too few in number and also spoke about the equal rights that India allows.

"Yes, maybe there are a few small pockets of extremism, radicalization, but there are too few to treat the different sections of society differently. In India, we have equal rights for everyone, and we don't look towards communities with suspicion.  Those who are radicalized is a different issue.  We tackle them separately, but that is, those were terrorists."

Parrikar also answerred several other questions regarding the Indo-US bond, alongside US Secretary of Defence Ash Carter.