US concerned about treatment of Muslims in India: Nancy Pelosi

WASHINGTON: Nancy Pelosi, the United States Speaker of the House of Representatives has said the US Congress was and continues to be concerned about the treatment of Muslims in India.

According to a report in ‘The Hindu‘, Ms. Pelosi’s comments came on Thursday during a conversation with Chairman of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) John Chambers at a Forum event in Washington DC.

“We were proud to welcome him [Prime Minister Narendra Modi] to a joint session of Congress [in 2016], we had some concerns about the treatment of Muslims in India – I have to mention it – then and now,” Pelosi was quoted as saying.

The US leader also described Mahatma Gandhi as the spiritual leader of the US’ movement of non-violence.

Calling herself a “worshipper” of Mahatma Gandhi, she recalled an incident saying, “I was wearing a hat in the school and a nun asked me that ‘who do think you are? Mahatma Gandhi?’ I had no idea about it.”

“I went to the library and there was a lot of books on Mahatma Gandhi back in the 1950s. At college, I used to get all the books on Mahatma Gandhi in the class. I learnt more and more about him. I became completely worshipping at the shrine of Mahatma Gandhi,” she continued.

She also praises for PM Modi’s oratory skills, saying the Indian leader is “spectacular” and had the people in the “palm of his hands”.