Barack Obama has reportedly abandoned plans to visit Amritsar's Golden Temple during his visit to India next month over fears that photographs of him with his head covered would revive false claims that he is a Muslim.
Members of Mr Obama's White House team reportedly visited India last month and told Indian officials of their concerns.
Mr Obama, whose father was a non-observant Muslim, has been dogged by rumours regarding his faith since his battle for the Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary Clinton in 2008. At times since becoming president he has highlighted the fact that his middle name is Hussein to boost his credibility abroad.
In August, a poll conducted by Time magazine found that almost one in four Americans thought he was a follower of Islam. The results came days after he waded into the dispute over controversial plans to build an Islamic centre near the site of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.
Temple sources said on Tuesday that three teams of officials from the U.S. embassy in New Delhi had visited them in the past six weeks but that they were unaware there was any concern over wearing a headscarf. According to the Indian Express, one American official had told his Indian counterparts that Mr Obama had to remind America "each day that he should not be mistaken for Muslim just because his middle name is Hussein".
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