New Delhi: After a rough couple of months on Capitol Hill, there is some good news for the Indian government.

Even as there are concerns that India’s actions in Kashmir and the recently passed Citizenship Amendment Act are getting a hostile reception in Washington, a new bill introduced in the House of Representatives seeks to strengthen the partnership between the two countries by enhancing shared values in education, conflict resolution and development.

On December 19, Democratic lawmaker from Georgia John Lewis introduced a bill that sought to “affirm” the friendship between India and the United States and set up a bilateral partnership for collaboration to advance “development and shared values, and for other purposes”.

Currently, H.R. 5517 has six co-sponsors – all of them Democrats. Three of them are Indian American lawmakers. It also includes congresswoman from Washington state – Pramila Jayapal, whose presence at a meeting with house foreign affairs committee meeting had led external affairs minister Jaishankar to cancel the appointment.

Also read: ‘Not Interested in Meeting Jayapal': Jaishankar Cancels US Congress Committee Meeting

Jayapal had earlier this month introduced a resolution urging India to remove restrictions on communications and release detained political leaders in Kashmir.

While the text of the latest bill has still to be uploaded on Congress’ database, diplomatic sources said that the legislation is part of the commemoration of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th anniversary.

It has been learnt that the Indian embassy in Washington piloted this initiative for the last six months before it was introduced in the house.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been supportive of this legislation in this landmark year. Pelosi had earlier spoken at an October 2 reception at the Library of Congress, which was also attended by external affairs minister S. Jaishankar. While the event had been scheduled far ahead, it was perceived as a notable outreach towards the Democrats after President Donald Trump took part in the ‘Howdy Modi’ rally at Houston, a week earlier.

As per sources, the draft proposes three new initiatives, all of them named jointly after Mahatma Gandhi and civil rights leader Martin Luther King. The main sponsor of the bill, John Lewis is also a highly-respected civil rights leader, who had played a prominent role in the movement in the 1960s that ended legal racial segregation in the United States.

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It includes the setting up of a Gandhi-King Development Foundation, which will be established by USAID “under laws of India”. It is planned that this foundation, supervised through a Governing Council convened by the two government, will disburse $30 million every year from 2020 to 2025 to voluntary organisations in the areas of health, pollution and climate change, education and women’s empowerment.

Similarly, a Gandhi-King Global Academy will be announced, which aims for professional development training initiative on conflict resolution. With an annual allocation fund of $2 million, the academy will be administered by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).

The third proposal is for a Gandhi-King Scholarly Exchange Initiative, which also has an annual allocation of $2 million. It would have an annual educational forum for scholars to spotlight the works and philosophies of Gandhi and King – and visit associated historical sites.

The introduction of the bill comes in the backdrop of largely negative reaction in Democrat-dominated Congress over India’s actions in Kashmir and passage of Citizenship Amendment Act.

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The cancellation of Jaishankar’s meeting with HFAC also did not improve optics, with prominent Democrats, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris criticising India.

As The Wire had reported on Saturday, Indian government sources had stated that the HFAC members had “changed the rule of the game” by bringing in a non-member like Jayapal. The external affairs minister had said, as per news agency ANI, that he had not been interested in meeting her.

However, as tweeted by journalist Seema Sirohi, Jaishankar asserted that India doesn’t “have a problem with Democrats”. He said the support for a strong relationship with India in the Congress remains strong and these few voices should not be projected to reach such “sweeping conclusions”.

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