During a visit to India this week (January 25-27), President Obama issued a strong plea for religious freedom and human dignity. Religious minorities, poor people, and women in many areas of India have faced persistent harassment and violence. The president urged that nation to uphold its constitutional guarantees of equality. Obama also paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings about nonviolence and tolerance and repeated Gandhi’s statement that different religions are “branches of the same majestic tree.”