Rep. Ro Khanna Elected Co-Chair Of India Caucus

Congressman Ro Khanna, 46, a Democrat who represents California’s 17th Congressional District, is the co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, along with his Republican House colleague Mike Waltz (R-Fla) in the 118th Congress.

“The Indian-American diaspora can play such an important role in helping strengthen the US-India partnership. I think this is a historic moment for our community. I think we’re really emerging and coming into our own as a strong voice,” Khanna told the media.

Picture : Newsweek

The India Caucus is a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers that was established in 1993 to bolster New Delhi-Washington relations. Prior to Khanna, Congressman Ami Bera was the first Indian-American to be elected as the co-chair of the Caucus in 2015-2016 during the 115th Congress.

“I’m going to try to make it about not just us India, but also the Indian-American community and highlighting the contributions of that community,” Khanna was quoted to have said.

Indian Americans are the second-largest immigrant group in the US, with their population estimated to be around four million. As the profile of the community has grown, so too has its social, economic, and political influence.

There are presently five Indian Americans serving in the Congress, popularly known as the ‘Samosa Caucus’ — Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Pramila Jayapal, and Shri Thanedar. Khanna’s appointment comes amidst reports that he may be looking at a potential presidential run in 2024.

His recent moves have sparked speculation among Democrats in several key states that the Congressman has his eyes set on a higher office, according to Politico. “If President Biden didn’t seek re-election, his name would have to be on the list of top contenders,” Stacey Walker, founder of the Iowa-based firm Sage Strategies, said.

Khanna — son of immigrant parents from Punjab — is seen as one of the leaders of his party’s progressive wing, and a relative newcomer on the scene who has broad appeal and formidable skills.

On US-India relations, he said last month that the relationship between the two democracies could define the 21st century. Khanna had said in November 2022 that the US needs a strong defense and strategic partnership with India, especially in the face of escalating aggression from China. In September last year, he had introduced a standalone bill in the US House of Representatives seeking a waiver to India against the punitive CAATSA sanctions.

Rep. Ro Khanna will be a co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans, he said in an exclusive interview last week. Khanna, a Democrat who has been representing California’s 17th Congressional District since 2017, will co-chair the caucus with Rep. Mike Waltz,.

“When I started on this journey, in my 20s, there was a huge novelty to having someone of Indian origin even enter politics,” he said. “The Indian American diaspora can play such an important role in helping strengthen the U.S.-India partnership. … I think this is a historic moment for our community. I think we’re really emerging and coming into our own as a strong voice.”

The caucus, which was established in 1993 to strengthen relations between the U.S. and India, was previously chaired by Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., and former Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio. Khanna said he hopes to take the caucus beyond its original goal. The Indian diaspora in the U.S. has its own unique needs, he said, and the position could be an opportunity to bring them to the forefront.

“I’m going to try to make it about not just us India, but also the Indian American community and highlighting the contributions of that community,” he said. “I think being Indian America and being part of the community, knowing so many of the community leaders, knowing the passions and interests of young people, I’ll be able to do that.”

Khanna said that having spent much of his career in Northern California’s Silicon Valley, he has been immersed in Indian American issues for years. The rising tide of Hindu nationalism is on the forefront of the diaspora’s collective consciousness; from professional spheres to college campuses, reports of Islamophobia and casteism abound in South Asian spaces.

Khanna hasn’t shied away from such conversations, and his vocalness has sparked outrage from right-wing Indian Americans. In 2019, 230 Hindu and Indian American entities wrote letter criticizing Khanna for denouncing Hindu nationalism (also known as Hindutva) and for advocating religious equality on the subcontinent.

“It’s the duty of every American politician of Hindu faith to stand for pluralism, reject Hindutva, and speak for equal rights for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist & Christians,” Khanna tweeted at the time.

They also criticized Khanna for joining the Congressional Pakistan Caucus and for speaking out against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s revoking the state of Kashmir’s autonomy.

“Of course, we have to fulfill the strategic partnership and we have to respect the democratically elected leadership in India,” Khanna told NBC News. “I will work to strengthen that while also upholding these human rights values.”

“When I started on this journey, in my 20s, there was a huge novelty to having someone of Indian origin even enter politics,” he said. “The Indian American diaspora can play such an important role in helping strengthen the U.S.-India partnership. … I think this is a historic moment for our community. I think we’re really emerging and coming into our own as a strong voice.”

“Of course, we have to fulfill the strategic partnership and we have to respect the democratically elected leadership in India,” Khanna told NBC News. “I will work to strengthen that while also upholding these human rights values.”

“These kids of H1B are like the Dreamers,” Khanna said. “You have kids who came here when they were 2 or 3. They don’t have citizenship. … Even though they have grown up their whole life here, they’re in a vulnerable position.”

With both Republican and Democratic representatives serving on the India Caucus, including Khanna’s co-chair Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., Khanna is aiming to mobilize bipartisan support for safeguarding young adults who find themselves in this position.

Khanna held a town hall on Saturday, bringing awareness to Asian American and Pacific Islanders’ mental health in the wake of the deadly shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay, California. Though the shooters in both cases were Asian men, Khanna said they amplified a mounting fear of simply existing in community spaces once considered safe.

With numerous high-profile acts of violence against Asians in the last few years, community members are feeling more “distant” from America than ever, he said.

“We had so much outreach to our office from constituents…people afraid, concerned, anxious about being Asian American in the United States,” he said. “These shootings, even though the perpetrator was Asian American, I think they triggered for so many in our community a sense of vulnerability.”

Khanna says taking on this greater role in the India Caucus feels like the culmination of generations of work in the public sphere. His grandfather Amarnath Vidyalankar spent his life fighting for India’s independence from British rule, even spending a few years in jail for the cause. Vidyalankar became a member of India’s first Parliament after independence in 1947.

Growing up with this knowledge has shaped Khanna’s strong beliefs in equality and religious freedom, he said, something he hopes to bring with him while chairing the caucus.  “Because of my grandfather, I was influenced by Gandhi’s thinking, by Nehru’s beautiful speeches about liberal democracy, about pluralism,” he said. “Those are the values I champion. … I’ve spoken out where I think those values are being challenged.”

Rep. Ami Bera is new top Democrat on House space subcommittee

House Democrats have named Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) as the new ranking member of the space subcommittee as they finalized the roster of members who will serve on that subcommittee.

The Indian American third-term Congressman Ami Bera, D-California, has been appointed ranking member of the space subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. He succeeds Donna Edwards, a Maryland Democrat who previously had served as the top Democrat on the subcommittee. Edwards chose not to run for reelection to the House in 2016, unsuccessfully running for the Senate instead.

“As a kid who grew up during the height of the space race dreaming of what lay beyond us, it’s an honor to be selected to serve as the ranking member for the subcommittee on space,” Bera, 51, said in a Feb. 14 statement about his selection as subcommittee ranking member. His district, which covers part of the Sacramento area, includes a major Aerojet Rocketdyne facility.

House Democrats announced the new appointments to the various subcommittees,  Feb. 14. This is the first subcommittee on which Bera has been made the top Democrat. He is also among the Democratic members of the Research & Technology Subcommittee of the Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Bera was also named vice ranking member of the full House Committee on Foreign Affairs, a new deputy position, a significant step-up from being a member of the committee since he came into office.

Bera’s District 7, covers Sacramento County that includes a major space technology company, Aerojet Rocketdyne in Rancho Cordova, apart from other space research facilities around the state. The Space Subcommittee is led by Republican Rep. Brian Babin of Texas whose district houses the NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

Ami Bera re-elected to Congress 3rd time

Nearly two weeks after the general elections, Democratic Congressman Ami Bera was declared winner in the Congressional election in California’s 7th district. The Indian American physician won his third term to represent a Sacramento-area district that national Republican leaders had targeted. The district has a nearly identical number of registered Republicans and Democrats.

Bera faced a tough challenge from Republican Scott Jones, the Sacramento County sheriff who raised his profile by criticizing President Barack Obama’s immigration policies. Bera and Jones emerged from Election Night Nov. 8, with the congressman leading by less than a percentage point in the CD 7 race. Jones attended “freshman orientation” in Congress last week, anticipating a possible victory in the hard-fought race.

The Associated Press declared victory for Bera, a Democrat on November 18th, when his lead over his Republican challenger, Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones, widened by more than two percentage points.  As of November 18, Bera had amassed 129, 064 votes – 51.2 percent – to Jones’ 123, 056 votes – 48.8 percent.

The incumbent was a top target for Republicans after his father pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions to his son’s campaigns. In early October, Bera trailed Jones, Sacramento County sheriff, by 5 points in a National Republican Congressional Committee poll. Yet, the incumbent’s favorables, a key indicator of how people might vote, remained high. And Jones brought his own issues to the race, with him facing allegations of unwanted sexual advances.

The election had attracted national attention as Ami Bera’s father, 84-year-old Babulal Bera, was sentenced to begin a 10-month prison term for using straw donors to fund his son’s 2010 and 2012 bids for a seat in the House of Representatives.

Rep. Ami Bera, who was the lone Indian American serving in the House of Representatives, defeating Republican Scott Jones in his re-election bid from the state of California, he will be joined by three other Indian Americans in the US Congress. Californians elected Kamala Harris as the state’s first new U.S. Senator in 24 years, she also became the first Indian American ever elected to the Senate with her victory.

Fremont attorney Ro Khanna, in his second battle with incumbent Mike Honda and in his third attempt at a congressional seat, has emerged victorious against the eight-term congressman. Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi won the Illinois 8th Congressional District race against Republican Peter DiCianni. Krishnamoorthi and DiCianni were both trying to win the seat vacated by Tammy Duckworth, who won Illinois’ U.S. Senate seat. Pramila Jayapal defeated Brady Walkinshaw Tuesday in Washington’s 7th Congressional District.

“It’s been my honor to serve this community first as a doctor and for these past four years as a member of Congress,” said Bera, in a press statement announcing his win.

“I’m incredibly thankful for the hundreds of volunteers who knocked doors and made phone calls during this campaign because they believe in standing up for women’s access to health care, protecting Medicare and Social Security, and ensuring all of our Veterans receive the benefits they’ve earned. After months of a divisive national election, our job now is to bring our country back together,” said the congressman.

Bera is one of the few Democratic doctors in the 114th Congress. That distinction, along with a public commitment to bipartisan collaboration, has guided the start of his legislative career.

In 1999, he signed on as the chief medical officer for Sacramento County, and five years later he became an administrator and professor at the medical school for the University of California, Davis. As Bera tells it, a lack of progress on some of the more daunting policy questions facing the nation spurred him to become a candidate in 2010. He lost to Republican Rep. Dan Lungren, but won the rematch two years later.

Bera is a member of the New Democrat Coalition, a more business-friendly part of his party’s caucus. But he has also tried to build a political identity around No Labels, a bipartisan group that aims to improve how Congress functions. He voted against all the partisan fiscal 2014 budgets that came to the House floor, and he has supported a handful of Republican bills designed to ease federal regulation.

In the 115th Congress, Bera will be joined by four incoming Indian-American members — fellow Californians Sen.-elect Kamala Harris and Rep.-elect Ro Khanna, Rep.-elect Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois and Rep.-elect Pramila Jayapal of Washington.

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