Team Blitz India
CALLING on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on June 20, a high-level US delegation of influential bipartisan lawmakers congratulated him on his election for the historic third consecutive term. It also expressed deep appreciation for the scale, fairness and transparency of the recently-concluded world’s largest democratic electoral exercise in India.
The delegation described India-US relations as the most consequential one and expressed its strong support for further deepening Comprehensive Strategic Global Partnership in all areas, including trade, new and emerging technology, defence, people-topeople exchanges. The Prime Minister highlighted the significant role played by the consistent and bipartisan support of the US Congress in advancing India-US ties, which are based on shared democratic values, respect for rule of law and strong people-to-people ties. On June 19, the delegates had discussions with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
Dalai Lama meeting
The delegation, including US House Foreign Affairs Committee member Michael McCaul and former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, earlier met Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama at his residence at Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh. It also met officials of Tibet’s Governmentin-Exile, which functions from India. After the meeting, Pelosi recounted her previous visit to Tibet, where she witnessed the Chinese Government’s “efforts to erase Tibetan culture by suppressing the use of the Tibetan language.”
According a newspaper report, Pelosi highlighted the importance of the recently-passed legislation, the ‘Resolve Tibet Act’, which sends a clear message to the Chinese Government about the United States’ stance on the issue. Dolme Tsering Teykhang, Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Governmentin-Exile, said that the visit of the US lawmakers demonstrates that “Tibet is not alone.”
