Our Bureau
Washington, DC
The US -India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) launched the second edition of its coffee table book titled We The People – 250 Voices: A Tribute to the 250 Voices that Shaped the US-India Relations” on Monday, June 29, at its flagship leadership summit in Washington, DC.
The summit, themed America@250 celebrated the 250th year of American independence and culminated with the launch of the coffee table book, alongside a special launch video for the book, USISPF said.
This edition recognizes 250 stellar individuals across eras who represent diverse professions but have dedicated their professional endeavors to enhance US-India relations.
The individuals range from artists and architects, academics and activists, diplomats and doctors, entrepreneurs and engineers, presidents and prime ministers, policymakers and pioneers, and alive and deceased. In their own ways, knowingly or unknowingly, they all played a part in helping to shape the most robust strategic partnership that we celebrate today, the release said.
USISPF acknowledges that the list by no means implies only these 250 individuals, both deceased and living are the ones who have shaped the relationship. We know that there are many more who, some yet unknown to us, have shaped and will continue to transform the relationship.
But our philosophy was to honor 250 individuals both past and contemporary, who have built diplomatic and cultural bonds and enhanced the soft power component of this strategic partnership.
The book also chronicles historic figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, alongside contemporary leaders from government, individuals who shaped the relationship from the highest corridors of political and corporate power such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Donald Trump, Ambassador Sergio Gor, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar along with business leaders, such as Indra Nooyi, Shantanu Narayen, Ajay Banga as well intellectuals from science, academia, healthcare, diplomacy, and civil society, such as Anoushka Shankar, Shubhanshu Shukla, Indira Nooyi, Sunita Williams, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Priyanka Chopra, Ajit Doval, Stephen Knapp, Padma Lakshmi, His Holiness Dalai Lama, Hasan Minhaj, Mira Nair, Frieda Pinto, AR Rahman, Rathan Rajan, Julia Roberts, the USISPF said.
“At the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), our mission has always been to translate strategic intent into tangible outcomes,” said Dr Mukesh Aghi, USISPF President and CEO. “We have seen firsthand how our work is carried forward both by institutions and by people who believe in the potential of this relationship and invest their energy, expertise, and ambition in its growth. This book is a tribute to those individuals. It is a celebration of what has been built and an acknowledgement of all those who laid the foundations. USISPF wishes to tell the story of the U.S.-India relationship through the voices of the people who give it meaning.”
USISPF’s first coffee table book, We The People – 75 Years of U.S.-India Relations, launched in 2022, commemorated the platinum jubilee of India’s independence and celebrated 75 years of U.S.-India diplomatic ties, it said.
Our second edition, We the People: A Tribute to the 250 Voices that Shaped the U.S.-India Relations, is something different. It is more personal, more human, and in its own way, more impactful. Each one of these individuals has helped weave the threads that bind the United States and India together into a relationship that is as enduring as it is dynamic, the USISPF said.
The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) is committed to creating the most powerful partnership between the United States and India. As the only independent not-for-profit institution dedicated to strengthening the US-India partnership in Washington, DC, and in New Delhi, USISPF is the trusted partner for businesses, non-profit organizations, the diaspora, and the governments of India and the United States.
