Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Senator Obama on India


Full text of the letter from Senator Obama to India Indeed
I support strengthening America’s relations with India because we share many common goals and interests. America is India’s largest trading and investment partner, both countries value the rule of law and cultural pluralism, and both are united in the fight to protect their values, their people and their way of life from terrorism and other threats. That’s why I support joint initiatives in fields from military cooperation to public health to energy and technology.

None of these accomplishments would happen without the active involvement of Indian Americans. Wherever they have settled around the country, Indian Americans have been strong contributors to their local communities. Balancing love of the homeland with a strong commitment to America, Indian Americans have put their knowledge, skills, and entrepreneurial spirit to work for the betterment of both countries. Their efforts have played a significant role in bringing the two countries closer and creating a blueprint for positive bilateral relations in the 21st century.

The ideas of liberalism and representative democracy that powered the American Revolution and inspired Mahatma Gandhi to free a great people did not stop 60 years ago. Gandhi’s victory in turn inspired a generation of young Americans to peacefully wipe out a system of overt oppression that had endured for a century, and more recently led to velvet revolutions in Eastern Europe and extinguished apartheid in South Africa.

I believe deeply that peaceful organizing to bring about popular rule will continue to be a potent tool to free oppressed peoples in those last countries on this planet where the light of freedom does not yet shine. This enduring legacy is one of the great gifts of India’s revolution.

Thank you again for contacting me

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

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