Two prominent Indian-American lawmakers, Ro Khanna and Shri Thanedar will travel to India with a bipartisan congressional delegation and attend prime minister’s address at the Red Fort on Aug 15. 

Khanna is leading the delegation with Congressman Michael Waltz, both co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans.

“As co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, we are proud to lead a bipartisan delegation to India. We will be there to discuss how to strengthen economic and defence ties between our two counties, the oldest and largest democracies,” Khanna said in a media statement. 

“Both of us believe that the US-India relationship will be a defining one of the 21st century,” he said. 

Indian-American lawmakers’ itinerary in their homeland

The duo will meet business, tech, government leaders, and prominent media personalities in Mumbai, Hyderabad and New Delhi, and visit Raj Ghat. 

For Khanna, the visit is history coming full circle. His grandfather Amarnath Vidyalankar was an Indian freedom fighter who spent four years in jail alongside Mahatma Gandhi and later was part of India’s first Parliament, the media statement issued on Aug 7, said. 

Earlier this year, Khanna and Waltz hosted a historic US-India Summit at Capitol Hill featuring panels and remarks from government leaders, experts, and Indian-American leaders from across the country. 

Khanna, 46, is the second Indian-American after Ami Bera to hold the position of co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans since its inception in 1993.

India’s Independence Day celebration in the US?

A group of Indian-American MPs led by Shri Thanedar in the lower house of representatives of the US Parliament have made a proposal that India’s Independence Day be declared as the national day celebration of the world’s two largest democracies - India and the US.

(Source: IANS)

-Edited for style

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