To mend ties, US lawmakers back India's UNSC membership

As India prepares for a change of guard, two influential US lawmakers have suggested that the US help India become a member of the UN Security Council to take India-US ties further ahead.

"If the United States and India can move our relationship further ahead, it could benefit our own constituents, as well as people throughout the world," House members Ami Bera and Joe Crowley wrote in an op-ed in "The Hill"focused on Congressional affairs.

In the piece, Bera, the lone Indian-American Congressman, and Crowley, co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, underline the importance of India's 2014 elections, as well as the continued importance of the US-India relationship "Working on a path for India's ascension to the United Nations Security Council is one important way to take concrete steps forward," the two suggested.

"Deepening our technological, security, educational and economic ties in a way that creates more high-paying American jobs is another."

"Beyond these priorities, India and the United States can collaborate on countless individual initiatives, in areas like research, transportation or development," Bera from California and Crowley from New York wrote.

"One thing is certain: moving closer together will do more good for our two countries than moving apart. In many ways, this is already happening organically," the lawmakers wrote.

"With more than 3 million Indian-Americans in the United States, many of whom remain close to families still in India, our people- to-people ties are stronger than ever and expanding by the day," Bera and Crowley noted.

"Most Americans interact daily with Indian-American community members, who are visible and active in all aspects of our national life, whether it is business, entertainment, public service, medicine, religion, education and more," they wrote.

Indian elections, the lawmakers wrote, were not only "a good reminder about the importance of democracy, our countries' shared histories, and the potential for future growth" but "also an opportunity to review, renew and reinvigorate our ties with a natural friend and partner."

Asserting that India-US ties "go far beyond similarities and respect," Bera and Crowley noted that the two countries have many common underlying interests.

"We share goals in standing up against terrorism, ensuring stability in South Asia and globally, in growing our economies, and increasing development," they wrote.

"Indians have also faced many problems similar to our own - after all, it was only weeks after 9/11 that the Indian Parliament was attacked."

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)