iNDICA NEWS BUREAU–
Indian American Congressman Shri Thanedar said on Tuesday that India and US need to work strongly together to challenge aggression from China. The congressman from Michigan said that India and the US need to strongly stand against China’s military and economic aggression.
“I have a lot of respect for India and its tremendous accomplishments. India and the United States need to work strongly together to challenge the aggression from China,” Thanedar said.
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Washington’s relationship with China has changed from that of a strategic competitor to a rival or outright threat that must be deterred and contained. There is a bipartisan consensus that India is a crucial geopolitical, even economic counterweight to China’s dominance in the Indo-Pacific region.
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“We have seen a lot of aggressive behaviour from China, economic aggression. They have infringed on workers’ rights. They have dumped products into the United States market by subsidizing businesses. So, we need to effectively strong stand against China’s military aggression, China’s economic aggression. And the best way to do that is a strong India and a strong India-United States relationships,” he added.
Earlier in June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed a four-day State visit to the United States. PM Modi was not only feted with a welcome ceremony and State dinner but was also invited to address Congress for the second time during his prime ministership, the only Indian head of government to be accorded this honor.
PM Modi arrived in Washington DC, the capital of a country he was once prohibited from visiting for almost 10 years. He joined the ranks of Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Volodymyr Zelenskyy as one of the few leaders who addressed a joint session of Congress more than once.
Thanedar, who escorted Modi to the chamber, heaped praise on Modi and stated that India has made a lot of progress and there is a lot of misinformation about its economy.
Reacting to the criticism over the Indian government’s restrictions on free speech and treatment of minorities, Thanedar stated that there are a lot of “baseless” attacks against India.
He noted that people of all kinds of faith live harmoniously in India.
“Look, no country is perfect. No democracy is perfect. But, India has made a lot of progress and there is a lot of misinformation about India. There are a lot of baseless attacks that happen about India. But, India is a country that has many different cultures, many different languages, many different religious. People of all kinds of faiths have lived harmoniously in India. United States needs to work on racism, on economic equity, racial equity, social equity,” Shri Thanedar said.
With Modi’s state visit, the US and India have declared themselves “among the closest partners in the world” and referring to the success of the visit the lawmaker said that India and US have a great collaboration culturally and promoting education, healthcare, medical innovations and space and defence technology.
Thanedar said he would like to see India become America’s strongest ally.
“It is about time we work with deep trust, deep friendship, and that we help the people of each of the countries economically. We have a great collaboration culturally, and also promoting education and healthcare, medicine innovations, and in terms of space and defence technology. So, I would like to see India become the strongest ally of the United States of America,” Shri Thanedar said.
On Tuesday, Thanedar was one of the US lawmakers who attended the Hindu Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill, an event that highlighted the challenges Hindus face in the US, rising violence against Hindus, Hinduphobia, caste laws, academic bias and more.
When asked about attending the event, Thanedar said that he is here to support the Hindu community and believes every person has a right to practice his or her religion without hate, bigotry or without any kind of attack.
Thanedar said, “I’m here to show them support because I believe that every person has a right to practice his or her religion without hate, without bigotry, without hatred, without any kind of attacks or phobias. And I strongly believe that religious freedom is important. And I’m here to support the Hindu community. And also I happen to be a US Congressman that formed the Hindu caucus in the United States Congress.”
