A friend of India talks of his pilgrimage

Jim McDermott

In 1959, Martin Luther King, Jr. travelled to India to study the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi and his principles of nonviolent social change. When he landed in Delhi, he told a group of reporters, “To other countries I may go as a tourist, but to India I come as a pilgrim.”

Fifty years later, I retraced King's steps with Congressman John Lewis. The trip reinforced for me a long-held belief that in order to bring two countries closer, we must first learn about each other. Over the course of my 28 years in the House of Representatives, I have come to believe that the United States and India are bound by universal values of peace and opportunity that speak to the very best parts of our respective countries. As Prime Minister Modi himself said when he met with President Obama in Washington in September 2014, “India and the United States are natural global partners, based on our shared values, interests and strengths in the digital age. We already have the foundation of a strong partnership. We now have to revive the momentum and ensure that we get the best out of it for our people and the world.” I think he is absolutely right. 

The US and India are two of the most ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse nations in the world. India is the world's largest democracy and can boast of one of its fastest-growing emerging markets. It counts the US  as its largest trading and investment partner and I believe the US can count on India as a stabilising partner for peace and security in an often chaotic region. Of course, this relationship has not always been an easy one. Over the course of my service in Congress, I have witnessed both triumphs and disappointments in this relationship. Whatever our strategic disagreements over nonalignment during the Cold War, I always believed that underneath the politics lay a generation of enterprising and thoughtful Indians eager to play a substantial role in the global community. 

I made my first trip to India just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Virtually overnight, India found itself alone on the world stage, in absence of any true friends or natural allies. The Prime Minister at the time, Narashima Rao, and Finance Minister Manmohan Sing assured me that given the country's emerging economic growth opportunities, India and the US stood to become strong partners. 

I made it my mission to educate my colleagues in Congress about the potential opening for engagement. That is why I co-founded the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans in 1993. I am proud to say it remains the largest country caucus in the House of Representatives and it is certainly one of the most active, welcoming and honouring Indian cultural and political figures, disseminating information about India, and promoting a stronger bond between both nations. I was a strong supporter of the US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement signed eight years ago. It was a critically important reset for two countries that were in reality natural allies, despite years of mistrust.

Eight years on, we are seeing why it is so valuable to continually bet on India: a ripe investment climate and diverse market; burgeoning military and humanitarian assistance capability; a regional stabilising power and a demonstrated commitment to pluralism. Perhaps most significant to the US commercial interests is India’s intelligent, energetic, and innovative diaspora. It is fashionable these days to focus solely on the US-China rivalry, as if we still live in the bipolar paradigm of the Cold War. India finds itself uniquely positioned to design its own role on the world stage, no longer content to play the third wheel between the world's foremost superpowers. 

India is unquestionably now a frontline player. It can choose to be a powerbroker, kingmaker, or serious competitor in its own right, thanks in no small part to its sheer size, but more so to its savvy economic choices. Complex political and developmental challenges remain, of course. Poverty, health, national security, and climate change threaten India's success. But it also means none of those issues can be tackled globally without India at the table.  

For my own part, one of the joys of representing Seattle all these years has been the true friendships I have made in the Indian American community. The city, and myself, owe much to this community and the countless economic and cultural contributions they have made. This may be my last year in the US Congress, but I hope to be present at Seattle Diwali celebrations for years to come. 

No place has ever quite captured me the way India has. I took my first trip there over 30 years ago and I go back virtually every year. I remember seeing the incredible temple of Jagannath in Puri during a visit a few years ago. Jagannath is neither human, nor animal. He pervades and permeates life. He is universal. I once heard him described as “the ocean in which all the streams come.” 

And that is India to me. The place of many gods, of many languages, of many traditions so different than the world I know and grew up in, and at the same time, so familiar and inviting. It is the place I always return to and with each visit, I see it as if for the first time. As King himself said when he arrived in India all those years ago, “I come as a pilgrim.” I think I could visit India 100 more times and I'd still learn something new on each trip. 

It has been a genuine privilege to watch the evolution of the US-India relationship over the past 28 years. I have done my best to promote understanding and partnership between us. I hope it is an alliance, indeed a friendship, that will endure. So long as our leaders remain committed to those values of peace and pluralism that we inherently share, I have every confidence that the future between our two countries will be bright and prosperous. 

The writer, a Democrat serving his 14th term in the US House of Representatives, represents the Seventh District  of Washington State.