Congressman under fire for meeting with far-right ideologue in India

WASHINGTON – Democratic U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna, currently traveling through India, has come under fire for a meeting with far-right Hindutva ideologue Abhijeet Iyer-Mitra.

Iyer-Mitra has been accused of spreading an Islamophobic narrative and calling Khanna’s Muslim colleague, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a “jihadi.”

Khanna defended his meeting, saying he did so to defend his grandfather’s legacy as a freedom fighter.

The Indian American Muslim Council, an advocacy group, said it was “deeply disappointed that Khanna would engage with a far-right Islamophobe.

Khanna has also said that he would have met with Indian opposition leaders and minority representatives if the Indian government had authorized the meetings.

He acknowledged that the delegation’s meetings had to be approved by India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

Activist Tushar Gandhi, however, tweeted about his meeting with Khanna in Mumbai.

In a series of tweets, he mentioned that Khanna had also “met “the father of Umer Khalid and representatives from violence-ravaged Manipur”.”

Khalid, a former student leader, will begin his three-year prison sentence next month.

The eight-member U.S. congressional delegation arrived in India last week for a visit to Mumbai and New Delhi.

They attended Independence Day celebrations at the famed Red Fort, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered his customary speech.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Khanna came to power in 2014, Muslims have faced increasing attacks, including lynching on mere suspicion of cow smuggling. Many Muslim activists have been jailed for protesting the government’s anti-Muslim policies.

Khanna played a key role in demanding that Prime Minister Modi address a joint session of the U.S. Congress during his trip to the U.S. capital in July.