Diaspora's silence on US' policy change targeting India surprising: Tharoor

The chairman of the Standing Committee on External Affairs said after meeting that one of the points the panel members raised was why the Indian-American diaspora has been "so silent about all this"

A parliamentary panel on Tuesday raised the recent adversarial decisions taken by the US aimed at India with a visiting delegation of lawmakers from that country and the "silence" of the Indian-American diaspora over these developments came up during the discussion.

All five Congress members from the US are Democrats, who are in the opposition and have been broadly critical of US President Donald Trump's policies.

The chairman of the Standing Committee on External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, said after the meeting that one of the points the panel members, who are drawn from the ruling as well as opposition parties, raised was why the Indian-American diaspora has been "so silent about all this".

Some members of the US delegation headed by Ami Bera, who is of Indian origin, shared the view.

Tharoor said, "I do want to stress that one of the points we raised is why the Indian-American diaspora has been so silent about all this. One of the Congressmen said not one phone call has come to her office from any Indian-American voter asking her to support a change of policy. This is something that is surprising."  He added, "We all need to reach out to the Indian-American population, saying if you care about your relationship with the motherland, then you also have to fight for and speak for it, and make more of an effort to press your political representative to stand up for India."  He said the visiting US lawmakers are friends of India and well disposed to the country.

Some MPs said the US delegates noted the strength and resilience of the Indian economy and praised the contribution of its diaspora amid concerns raised by the Trump administration's decision to hike the H-1B visa fee to a steep $1,00,000.

The issues of the US' sanctions waiver for Iran's Chabahar Port, which is being developed by India, and the 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods were also raised in the meeting.

Some US lawmakers criticised Trump for these decisions.

The most important message that came out from them, Tharoor said, was that a lot of US opinion, including in the US Congress, is strongly committed to the Indian relationship and the strategic partnership between the two countries.

"India is valued, and they remain determined to strengthen the relationship despite the recent setbacks that we are familiar with," he said.

The interaction of the US delegation with the parliamentary committee was not part of the initial agenda of the panel and was scheduled later as they were visiting India, sources said.