In a speech that stirred diametrically opposite views, depending upon whether you were pro- or anti-Modi, US President Barack Obama wound up his three-day trip addressing several social issues similar to those raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While critics said Obama had snubbed Modi and the ‘ghar wapsi’ programmes of Sangh parivar affiliates, others chose to play up the speech to 1,500 people in the capital’s Siri Fort Auditorium as stressing the common roots of the two nations in guaranteeing religious freedom, their plurality and even comparing his family’s modest background with Modi’s.

Obama’s India-will-succeed-so-long-as-it-is-not-splintered-on-religious-lines speech was reminiscent of Modi’s campaign trail speeches that beseeched Indians to, at least for the next decade, forget about being Hindus and Muslims and just concentrate on developmental issues.

The Obama-Modi joint radio address, “Mann ki Baat”, reiterated a point made at Siri Fort on the role of the girl child. Besides Modi’s beti-bachao-beti-padhao campaign launched in Haryana a few days ago, the theme this Republic Day was ‘nari shakti’. “When women are able to work,” Obama said, “families are healthier, communities are wealthier and entire countries are more prosperous.”

While Modi baiters like Congress’s general secretary Digvijay Singh took a jibe wondering whether Modi would advise his friends in the Sangh parivar to stop justifying ‘ghar wapsi’, admirers castigated Obama for lecturing Indians on the subject.

In his Siri Fort address, Obama spoke of how he and his wife Michelle had “been strengthened by our Christian faith”; he spoke of Article 25 of the Indian Constitution that guarantees the right to freely profess and practice and propagate religion.

“India and the US are natural partners, because we have so much in common. We are two great democracies, two innovative economies, two diverse societies dedicated to empowering individuals. We are linked together by millions of proud Indian Americans who still have family and carry on traditions from India,” Obama said in the radio address.

But what drew loud cheers from the audience was his borrowing Shah Rukh Khan’s famous dialogue “Bade bade deshon mein aisi chhoti chhoti baatein hoti rahti hain” from the movie Dilwale Dulhania le Jayenge. “Last celebration here we celebrated festival of lights in Mumbai. We danced with some children. Unfortunately, we were not able to schedule any dancing in this visit. Senorita, bade bade deshon mein… You know what I mean,” Obama said with a smile.