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Congressman backs deeper India-US defence ties
In an interview, US congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy — an elected representative from Illinois and a member of the house permanent select committee on intelligence — also talked about helping reduce Indian dependence on Russian arms while ensuring it has access to the best technology.
A US congressman has said India and the United States agree on ’far’ more things than the two disagree on, adding that containing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its aggression remains the top challenge in the Indo-Pacific and the two sides must have conversations about strengthening mutual defences.
In an interview, US congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy — an elected representative from Illinois and a member of the house permanent select committee on intelligence — also talked about helping reduce Indian dependence on Russian arms while ensuring it has access to the best technology.
Claiming that India-US ties remain strong in the wake of Russia’s invasion, the congressman said that different countries have different opinions with regard to different subjects.
“The fundamentals remain extremely strong and that’s why the US and India continue to cooperate on a range of issues, from security matters as part of the Quad initiative to economic matters, trade matters, and of course, people to people and cultural ties,” he said.
“There are more than four million Indian-Americans and they form a very sturdy and long-lasting bridge to India. And I think that also helps to always keep the relationship close.”
Krishnamoorthy rejected the premise that the differences in the position on Ukraine may lead to an erosion of strategic trust, and instead highlighted the long-term trajectory and the strategic subtext of the relationship. “I think that everyone understands that what we share in common far, far outweighs anything that we may disagree about,” he said.
According to him, CCP’s aggression in the Indo-Pacific presents an important challenge “and I think that if we take the eye off that ball, we lose an opportunity to really stabilise the region and create a rules-based international order, which is what I think all democratic countries desire.”
He also accused China of “misinformation, propaganda, falsehoods and fabrication”, and underscored the need for democracies to work together.
“I think democracies based on the fundamental principle of equality under the law, liberty and freedom for people, protection of minorities, all the shared values of the United States and India have in common, will ultimately prevail. That is what we see in history,” he said.
He agreed with American administration’s recent push for deeper India-US defence cooperation to offset Delhi’s dependence on Moscow and said that he would be willing to champion ties that took into account Indian concerns.
“We should increasingly talk about what is the manufacturing and technology supply chain on the defence side, how do we make sure that our mutual defences are strong, and how do we make sure that India has the capability that it requires to defend itself without being so dependent on Russian imports and, at the same time, have access to the most modern technology.”
When asked about the health of Indian democracy, the Delhi-born Krishnamoorthy, whose family moved to the US soon after he was born in 1973, said that just like American democracy, it was being challenged.
“I believe minority rights are very important in any democracy. I think that they are under pressure in India. I think they are under pressure here in the US,” he said, adding that 30% of his constituency in Illinois was foreign-born — and they had “gone through hell in the last six years, especially during the (Donald) Trump presidency, as immigrants”.
