External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar blamed American media for making it difficult for India to explain the decision to remove certain provisions of Article 370 to US lawmakers that changes the constitutional position of Jammu and Kashmir.

In an interaction at the US-India Leadership Summit organised by US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), Jaishankar accused the "English-speaking so-called liberal media" of not presenting the facts about India's decision.

Referring to the US media, he said, "I think it was a more difficult challenge with the media, especially the English-speaking liberal media [in the West]. Partly, because they were ideological about [Jammu and Kashmir], and they had strong preset views about it. My view was that they didn't present a fair picture or absorb it."

While the External Affairs Minister emphasised that the government’s move was India's "internal business", he explained that the decision taken by the Modi administration was for the benefit of the people of Kashmir.

"There were development obstacles in Kashmir. The cost of business was much higher," he added. "Article 370 narrowed the scope for business and raised the cost of business, which meant there was less development."

Blaming print media for not "absorbing facts" and reporting that the provisions of Article 370 were temporary in nature, the minister said that they posed a real challenge for the Indian administration which was at the receiving end of these "cumulative impressions"

"I found a lot of people were surprised by the information that the particular provision of the Constitution was a temporary one because the media does not say that," he said.

In the recent past, there has been an increase in criticism from across political parties in Washington DC. While India has been firefighting these statements coming from Capitol Hill, there are other areas where the two nations remain engaged.

Speaking on the pending trade deal between the two countries, Jaishankar asserted, "US today has made trade issues much more central to its foreign policy. Economic security is its national security. When you have issues, you sit down and work on them."

Finance Minister Nirmal Sitharaman was in the US recently to discuss the deal. Officials on both sides are looking at scheduling a visit by US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to India for finalisation of the trade deal.

The summit also had sessions with two other former Secretaries of State, Henry Kissinger and Condoleezza Rice.

While Condoleezza Rice expressed hope for positive developments in the relations, she also added that any country endorsing a religion is bad for that nation.

"Protection of religious minorities is becoming a problem worldwide. We will suffer badly if we go down this road. I hope every leader is cognizant of this," she said.

Henry Kissinger emphasised on the growth cusp that India and the US are at.

"No two countries are better situated to grow together on strategic issues than the US and India. Over the past decades, we have reached a point where US-India have parallel objectives on all the key strategic issues such as security and economic evolution of the world," said the 96-year-old former diplomat.