Indian American official in Trump's entourage strikes an emotional note
Washington: Around five decades after his parents landed in the US, Indian American Ajit Pai is travelling to India on board the Air Force One along with President Donald Trump.
Pai (47), who is the first ever Indian American Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, wonders how his parents would have reacted years ago had they been told that their son would one day accompany the US president to India.
He is among the two Indian Americans travelling to India along with Trump, the other being Kesh Patel, special assistant to the president and senior director for counter-terrorism.
"If I could go back in time to 1971, just after my parents' weddings, I wonder what those two young adults would say if you told them that just one generation later their son would be representing the top levels of the United States government visiting the country in which they had grown up,"said Pai.
"I have a feeling that they would say what they often do now and a belief I carry in my bones, only in America," Pai said in a video posted on Twitter. Pai said during his India trip, they we will be discussing issues of mutual interest like 5G and bridging the digital divide.
"We will aim to deepen the friendship between the worlds oldest democracy and its largest," he added.
Looking forward to this trip not just professionally but personally, Pai said his mother grew up in Bengaluru while his father was raised in Hyderabad.
Shortly after their wedding in 1971, they came to America with just USD 8, a transistor radio and the "faith that the American dream would be within reach", he said.
"Like so many immigrants, they sacrificed to give me opportunities they did not have. And it was my grandparents who instilled in us the value of hard work and the vision to dream big," he said.
"As the first Indian American to serve as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, I feel a responsibility to them and other immigrants like them to be worthy of their sacrifices," Pai said.
In another tweet, that he had posted in 2019, Pai shared the passport of his maternal grandfather which was issued in 1937 to work as a clerk in Bahrain, where his mother was born in 1945.
Almost fifty years after my parents came to the U.S. from India, I’m looking forward to traveling to India along with @POTUS and other U.S. government officials, and participating in bilateral meetings aimed at deepening the friendship between our two nations! ???? pic.twitter.com/QTtSYY210k
— Ajit Pai (@AjitPaiFCC) February 23, 2020
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Opposition will question govt at all-party meet about Trump's claims on brokering ceasefire: Kharge
Kalaburagi (PTI): Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday said that the opposition will question the government at the all-party meeting, regarding US President Donald Trump's claims that his administration helped broker a "ceasefire" between India and Pakistan.
The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said he will urge the government to call an all-party meeting soon, to discuss the latest developments in border tension between India and Pakistan, including "ceasefire".
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "Trump is saying things to claim credit. These people (PM and central government) are saying no. It is a sensitive matter. When an all-party meeting is called, we will discuss — what’s the matter, what happened and what were the telephone talks— and ask all these things”.
In response to a question whether PM Modi gave in to Trump's mediation, he said "It won’t be right for me to speak about it now. We have our party meeting today. I’m going for that. I will ask (centre) to call an all-party meeting, let’s see what they will do."
India and Pakistan reached an understanding on Saturday to end the military conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.
Indian government sources have been maintaining that the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions, and no third party was involved.
There was no reference to trade in talks between top leaders of India and the US during the India-Pakistan military conflict, government sources said on Monday after American President Donald Trump claimed that he pressured New Delhi and Islamabad to stop hostilities by threatening to cut trade with both countries.
The source-based clarification came after Trump on Monday said he forced the two countries to stop the hostilities by using the trade card.
Kharge and his party have already demanded that the central government convene a special session of Parliament to discuss the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor, and the latest developments in cross-border firing, including the recently announced "ceasefire".
