A powerful India Caucus in the US Congress has urged the Indian Government to ensure that the norms of democracy are maintained and protesters allowed to demonstrate peacefully and have access to the Internet as it held a meeting with New Delhi’s envoy here.
India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, who regularly interacts with India Caucus members on a number of issues, had a virtual meeting with the top leadership of the Congressional India Caucus last week.
The members included congressmen Brad Sherman and Steve Chabot who are the two Co-Chairs of the Congressional India Caucus along with Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna, who is the Vice Chair of the Caucus.
“During this discussion, the caucus leadership welcomed reforms in the Indian economy including in agriculture,” sources told PTI.
During the meeting, the leadership of the India Caucus, which is the largest country-specific caucus in the House of Representatives, condemned the violence on January 26 in Delhi. Among other things “they were appreciative of the government’s perspective on the farm reforms,” according to those familiar with the meeting.
Sherman tweeted that they urged India to ensure that the norms of democracy are maintained and the protesters allowed to demonstrate peacefully and have access to the Internet.
“I urged the Indian government to make sure that the norms of democracy are maintained and that protesters are allowed to protest peaceably and to have access to the Internet, and to journalists. All friends of India hope that the parties can reach an agreement,” Sherman said.
The Indian ambassador, who over the last one year has met over 100 American lawmakers, mostly virtually due to the Covid-19 restrictions, briefed lawmakers on the necessity and objectives of the agriculture laws, negotiations as well as sensitive handling of the agitation.