India receives 'total support, solidarity' in Congressional meetings: Tharoor

Washington, June 5 India received "total support and solidarity" in fighting terrorism from US lawmakers whom the Indian parliamentary delegation met on Wednesday, Congress MP Sashi Tharoor, who is leading the team, said.

"We didn't have a single sceptical or negative voice," he said at a news conference here. "On the contrary, what we got was very, very positive responses."

There was "total support and solidarity for India and its fight against terrorism" and expressions of "complete understanding of India's right to defend itself against terrorism," he said.

On its mission of conveying the message of zero tolerance for terrorism and the rationale for Operation Sindoor, Team Tharoor met with the India Caucus of the Congress; members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee including the chairs of two of the South Asia and the East Asia subcommittees, and a group of six senators, five of whom are of the Foreign Relations Committee and one on the Intelligence Committee.

Tharoor's narrative was echoed by Congress members who met with the delegation.

Co-chair of the India Caucus, Democrat Representative Ro Khanna, posted on X, "We discussed the importance of strengthening US-India counterterrorism cooperation and dismantling the terrorist groups that are responsible for the April 22 attacks", which killed 26 innocent people in Pahalgam.

The Resistance Front, an affiliate of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, took responsibility for the attack.

Like the Indian delegation cutting across party lines, the members of Congress from both the US showed support for India.

Senator Dave McCormick, a Republican, said on X that in the meeting with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, "we discussed the shared values between the US and India, combatting terrorism and pushing back against authoritarian states while expanding our economic relationship to build a free and democratic future for generations to come."

McCormick is the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism.

Representative Gregory Meeks, who is the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, greeted Tharoor as the chair of India's Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs.

He said on X, "My colleagues & I expressed condolences for the terrorist attack in Pahalgam & reaffirmed Congress's commitment to the US-India partnership."

Tharoor said at his news conference, "Broadly speaking, we have left the hill very pleased with the quality of the conversations the level of interest."

Before coming to Washington, Team Tharoor had visited Guyana, Panama, Colombia and Brazil.

In all the countries they visited, they were "shown all the empathy possible."

In Congress and in the countries they visited, Tharoor said, "Across the board, it's not just a question of standing with us against terror, they also are thinking positively about economic development, cooperation, trade, investment."

Shashank Mani Tripathi and some members of the delegation held separate meetings on economic cooperation.

He said at the news conference, "On the hill, there was a fairly bi-partisan acceptance that as largest, vibrant, very diverse democracies, both nations together, have a lot to offer to the world."

"This agenda of economics is the core point," but it also relates to "a larger, longer-term play of democracy across the world is central," he said.

Tharoor also addressed a news conference at the National Press Club, and his team held a meeting with the Indian diaspora.

He urged the members of the diaspora to speak up with their members of Congress for India.

They will listen to you, he said.

"They are conscious of you. They respect you. You're all very, very high achievers, and people can do significant things. We are proud of you."

The other members of the team drawn from across India's political spectrum are Shambhavi Choudhary of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Sarfaraz Ahmad of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and Milind Murli Deora of the Shiv Sena as well as Bhubaneswar Kalita, and Tejasvi Surya of the BJP, and GM Harish Balayogi of the Telugu Desam Party, a National Democratic Alliance partner.

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