US Senators John Cornyn, Texas Republican, and Mark R Warner, Virginia Democrat -- the co-chairs of the Senate's bipartisan India Caucus -- have introduced a resolution to honour and celebrate the festival of Diwali.
United States Senator Mark Warner, the democratic co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, said Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and India's restraint in the face of continuing terrorist attacks is nothing short of remarkable and keeping with the best traditions of India.
The incredible demand to be a part of Indian-American history in greeting Prime Minister Modi has pushed us to find more ways to let the community participate.
Another crucial power group, the US legislative Congress, is increasing pressure for closer ties between Washington and New Delhi.
American lawmakers, who were attending the Confederation of Indian Industry's launch of a new study on Indian investment in the United States at a Congressional reception on Capitol Hill, showered Ambassador Meera Shankar with a surfeit of kudos, much to her embarrassment.Congressman Joe Crowley, New York Democrat and co-chair of the India Caucus in the US House of Representatives, said, "Ambassador you are a rock star". He also spoke of her receiving "a rock star welcome".
Among key Congressional leaders, the Foreign Secretary met included Jim McDermott, co-chair of the India caucus at the Congress; Howard L Berman, Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs; and Senator Richard Lugar, Ranking Member of the powerful Senate Committee on International Relations
Sanders is the second Democratic presidential nominee after Senator Elizabeth Warren to speak against the violence over the Citizenship Amendment Act in New Delhi.
Chidambaram expressed India's discomfort on the immigration issue
The resolution condemns additional Chinese provocations, including China's use of military force to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control, construction of villages in contested areas, publication of maps with Mandarin-language names for cities and features in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, and expansion of Beijing's territorial claims in Bhutan.
The New York lawmaker, who is the co-chair of the Friends of India Caucus in the US Senate, said in her missive conveying greetings that 'Diwali is an annual festival of lights signifying universal love, peace, giving and caring. The glitter and splendor of lights which illuminate the dark sky on this day symbolizes the brightness of the future.'
She said that 'the legislation that emerged from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was a significant improvement over the implementing legislation put forward by the Administration in March.'
US Senator John Cornyn, the founder and co-chair of the Friends of India Caucus in the US Senate with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, has exhorted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to throw in the towel on the US-India civilian nuclear deal. Cornyn also urged Dr Singh to try and resurrect the deal from the life-support it is on now.
The Trump administration has a "very positive view" of the Indo-US relationship and a lot of interest in taking the ties forward, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said on Saturday after his wide-ranging talks with senior Cabinet members and top officials in Washington.
National Security Advisor Susan Rice, influential business leaders and a host of other lawmakers, including Indian-American Congressman Ami Bera, would be travelling with President Barack Obama to attend India's Republic Day celebrations.
They also slammed the "violent rhetoric" against India's Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu and said free speech does not mean a license to incite violence or vandalise property.
United States First Lady Michelle Obama would lead this year's Diwali celebrations the White House, which is expected to be attended by lawmakers, senior administration officials and eminent Indian Americans.
Initial indications that the perpetrators of this attack were Pakistani and that the attack emanated from Pakistan, says US Senators.
The US has already imposed sanctions on Turkey for the purchase of a batch of S-400 missile defence systems.
A powerful senatorial committee on Wednesday is set to consider a bipartisan resolution to recognise Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India, pushing back against China's military aggression to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control.
The community is planning to welcome Modi at every possible location where he could be available during his three-day stay.
Mainstream American newspapers, many of which had been sceptical of India's space mission and sometimes even made fun of it through cartoons, noted the great Indian achievement.
The Oxford University social media expert, however, did not elaborate further about his charges.
Meanwhile, Pakistan said the terrorist attack in Pulwama district is "a matter of grave concern" even as it strongly rejected Indian media and government's allegations of the country's link to the strike "without" probe.
The resolution was introduced by Senator John Cornyn, Republican Senate Majority Whip, and Senator Mark Warner, ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Lawmakers were not going to be in town on that particular day, and would be in their constituencies preparing for the mid-term elections in November. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports
New York Democrat Gary Ackerman was arguably considered one of the most cerebral and strategic thinkers on foreign policy. He has been a regular visitor to India and a conspicuous presence at Indian American events and has a daughter-in-law who's Indian American too.
India is "very important" for America's foreign policy and crucial for the stability and peace in the region, an influential US lawmaker said on Thursday. "India is a very important part of the United States foreign policy," Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who is co-chair of the Congressional caucus on Pakistan and heads the Afghan caucus said at a panel discussion in Washington.
'That they don't have a say in the UN, like China, is hard for me to understand,' says US Congressman Joseph Crowley.
The US is looking very carefully at what Modi did when he was in Moscow, a senior State Department official has told lawmakers concerned over the growing India-Russia ties.
The study draws attention to the contribution of the Indian industry
"This is not what my grandfather sacrificed years in jail for," Ro Khanna said.
"China creeps towards hegemony in Asia, threatens India's borders, and treats other countries as junior partners, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna said.
The spell that Prime Minister Narendra Modi cast over US lawmakers nearly two months during his visit to the United States has still not worn off, as was manifest by the gushing nostalgia of the Modi magic by both Democratic and Republican party representatives at the Congressional Diwali celebration on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
The United States has made it clear to India that it is "discouraging" it from proceeding with its acquisition of S-400 missile defence systems from Russia but Washington will have to weigh "important geostrategic considerations" while taking a decision on growing calls for a presidential CAATSA waiver to New Delhi, President Joe Biden's nominee for Coordinator for Sanctions Policy has told lawmakers.
In a powerful signal to New Delhi that the United States is a reliable defense partner, Senators Mark Warner and John Cornyn introduced US-India Defense Technology and Partnership Act in Senate
It behooves US to encourage integration of India into the Asia-Pacific, says US Congressman Ed Royce.
Congressman Jim McDermott, who represents Washington state -- who incidentally voted against the enabling legislation also known as the Hyde Act two years ago -- said, "The likelihood of Congress taking up the nuclear issue again before the end of the year is, it will be very difficult."
