Diaspora's silence on US H-1B visa policy surprising: Shashi Tharoor

A parliamentary panel on Tuesday raised the recent adversarial decisions taken by the US aimed at India, including H-1B visa, with a visiting delegation of lawmakers from the United States. The "silence" of the Indian-American diaspora over these developments also came up during the discussion.

The five Congress members from the US attending the meeting included Amerish Babulal 'Ami' Bera, James Varni Panetta, Salud Ortiz Carbajal, Julie Elizabeth Johnson, Dec Truyen Tran - all Democrats.

After the meeting, chairman of the Standing Committee on External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, said one of the points the panel members, who are drawn from the ruling as well as the Opposition parties, raised the concern as to why the Indian-American diaspora has been "so silent about all this". Some members of the US delegation headed by Ami Bera, who is of Indian origin, shared the view.


Tharoor said, "One of the points we raised is why the Indian-American diaspora has been so silent about all this. One of the Congressmen said not one phone call has come to her office from any Indian-American voter asking her to support a change of policy. This is something that is surprising."