Our Bureau
Washington, DC
Congressman Ro Khanna, who is also co-chair of the Congressional India Caucus, along with three other Indian American lawmakers – Shri Thanedar, Pramila Jayapal and Dr Ami Bera – spoke in a panel discussion during the “Desi Decides” Summit of Indian American Impact
Lecturing India on human rights is unlikely to work, Indian-American lawmakers said, as they favored having a conversation with the leadership of the important country to raise concerns over the issue. The lawmakers belonging to the Democratic Party reiterated that they would continue to raise the issue of human rights in India with its leadership.
“India was colonized for over 100 years. So, when we’re having a conversation about human rights, and you’re having a conversation with (External Affairs Minister S) Jaishankar or someone else, you have to understand that just coming in from the perspective of lecturing India. When they say that we’ve had colonial powers lecture us for hundreds of years, it is not going to be productive,” Congressman Ro Khanna told members of the Indian American community during the ‘Desi Decides’ Summit of Indian American Impact.
Bera said he agrees with Khanna. “I’ve said the same to the (Indian) foreign minister. If India loses its secular nation, it changes who she is as a country and how the rest of the world views it,” he said.
Jayapal said she agrees with both Bera and Khanna. “The only thing I would add is that I think we have to be able to critique our own country’s imperfections and any other country’s imperfections. That’s actually our job in Congress. We shouldn’t lecture, I agree with Roe (Khanna). But we do have to think about all of the United States’ interests. That is economic, for sure. India is an important partner for us. It’s an important partner because of other regional dynamics as well and global dynamics,” she said.
