Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna has said the US-India relationship is at its lowest point in three decades, blaming US President Donald Trump's foreign policy for damaging bilateral trust and America's global standing.
Speaking at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum Leadership Summit in Washington on Monday, the California Democrat said Trump's approach to global affairs had undermined ties with India and alienated key partners.
"Now, you know I'm not one to mince words. I sort of tell things as they are. The US-India relationship has been at its lowest point in the last 30 years," Khanna said.
Referring to the US President's stance on Iran, Khanna said, "Trump's policies of getting into a war with Iran have been utterly destructive. It has been utterly destructive to the prices of gas in India. Talk to (External Affairs Minister S) Jaishankar if you don't believe me."
Khanna also claimed that India's envoy to China had expressed concern over the erosion of trust between New Delhi and Washington.
"I was in China, and the Indian Ambassador there told me that a generation of trust has been lost by President Trump. If we don't speak the truth about the damage this President has done...we are not living in reality," Khanna, a presumptive 2028 Presidential hopeful, said.
The Democratic lawmaker also slammed Trump's broader foreign policy, accusing him of abandoning America's traditional leadership role.
"Now you have an America that has forgotten that moral vision, that has a foreign policy of might makes right, threatening not just Iran, threatening Cuba, threatening to conquer Greenland, and we were having dinner as if everything is normal," Khanna said.
"Who cares about the partnerships of this and that when this President is literally destroying America's leadership in the entire world," he said.
Khanna also took aim at the Trump administration's immigration policies, particularly its handling of student visas and skilled migrants.
"The demagoguery about immigrants, the demagoguery of this President and talking about the lack of immigrants coming into the United States. How can we sit here and not condemn his policies on what he has done with student visas, with the demonisation of talent coming to the United States," Khanna said.
Highlighting the role of international talent in advancing American technology, Khanna said Trump failed to recognise the importance of attracting global expertise.
"38 per cent of the top AI researchers are of Chinese origin. 72 per cent have foreign degrees. This is a President who doesn't understand that we need to be recruiting talent, not turning talent away," Khanna said.
Calling Trump a "lame duck", Khanna expressed confidence that the Democratic Party would regain political ground.
Khanna described Trump as a "lame duck" and asserted that the Democrats were going to win the upcoming mid-term elections and the 2028 presidential elections decisively.
(With inputs from PTI)