White House on Golden Temple

Washington : The White House has rejected media reports suggesting the US President, Barack Obama, cancelled his proposed visit to Golden Temple in Punjab so that he will not to have a head cover that could give him a look like a Muslim.

Local media in home and abroad put up stories on cancellation of Obama’s trip to Amritsar giving different tones, which the White House strongly opposed.

“We have visited many religious sites — mosques, churches, synagogues — on foreign travel. We will do so on this trip, probably in Indonesia. So I think that the decision we made was driven by, again, the interests of time, how to best advance our common interests with India in these three days,” Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communication, Ben Rhodes, said.

“Unfortunately, we are not going to be able to get to every place we advanced,” he told reporters when asked about news reports that Obama cancelled his trip to Amritsar and the Golden Temple.