Diversity of thought and speech is the hallmark of India, says US Ambassador Richard Verma

Amidst the ongoing JNU crisis and the raging nationalism debate, US Ambassador Richard Verma has said that "universities are laboratories for thoughts" and that the "hallmark of democracies like India and America are diversity of thought and speech".

While Verma didn’t refer to JNU directly, he said that college campuses in India and the US have very diverse viewpoints. While referring to Indian and American constitutions, he said that speech is the central tenet to both democracies.

He, however, avoided any controversial remark during an interaction on India-US strategic ties.

When he was asked about his thoughts on the current sedition debate in India, he said that India and the US share values and mentioned the diversity in India.

"It is hard to find a country more diverse than India. I have travelled to over 20 towns in India and this country presents huge diversity," the US envoy said.

He expressed optimism about US businesses in India which have proven their mettle in 2015. As per Verma, there are 500 US companies in India and the two countries are hoping that bilateral trade will reach $500 billion a year.

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